THE Met Office may have issued a yellow weather warning, but never in their wildest imaginations did Newcastle residents foresee what was going to unfold early on Sunday.
Torrential rain, in fact record rainfall, caused severe flooding and damage as debris was swept off the mountains and torrents of water surged past hundreds of homes, overwhelming the town’s drainage system.
The dangerous downpours left homes threatened, roads blocked and a hiker stranded as the community rallied to save their homes, as well as those of friends, neighbours and strangers.
As dawn broke on Sunday, residents living in the Tullybrannigan area, at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, awoke to a scene many described as unprecedented.
After relentless rainfall – around 100 millimetres, according to the Met Office – the usually tranquil streets and avenues in this part of Newcastle were transformed into surging rivers.
Testing the resilience and resourcefulness of the community, people were left fearing the worst, that the inside of their treasured homes would be submerged.
Many were woken by the sound of the rain pelting off their roofs, but this noise would be nothing compared to the “deafening” sound of a forceful river which made its way from the mountains and through Donard Forest, eventually breaking through into gardens which border the treeline.
Homes in addresses including Sunningdale Drive, Slievemoyne Park and Tullybrannigan Road bore the brunt.
As the torrents flowed, for the guts of 12 hours, they carried stones, mud and silt and other debris.
Such was their force, they uprooted manholes and grates and ripped huge chunks of tarmac from the roads.
The immediate response saw sandbags handed out, and diggers used to build flood defences.
But the clear-up and repair operation, from fixing people’s gardens, driveways and outbuildings, to tackling the debris that choked roads and overwhelmed drainage systems, still has some way to go.
There have been many calls for a full and urgent investigation to identify the cause of Sunday’s flooding.
Community spirit was on full display, as residents, some armed with nothing more than shovels, yard brushes and determination, joined statutory agencies to help out.
At one point, a Newcastle councillor, Willie Clarke, was photographed standing up to his waist in a blocked ditch, which runs along Shan Slieve Drive.
He cleared it of debris, with the help of local resident Declan Looby.
Hundreds of sandbags were supplied by the Department for Infrastructure, members of Newcastle Fire and Rescue Service were called out to assist, and residents, such as local man Peter Law, worked tirelessly to clear leaves and debris from drains along Slievenamaddy Avenue.
Mr Law, a lifelong Newcastle resident, said this section of town last flooded on this scale in the late 1960s.
He said that given the town’s topography, with the mountains and hills on one side, and the sea on the other, incidents like what unfolded early on Sunday are further compounded when high tide falls at the same time as heavy downpours, meaning there is literally nowhere for the water to escape safely and naturally.
He said he could recall paddling a rowing boat through floodwaters in Tullybrannigan five decades ago.
“When the water comes off the hills, there is only one direction it’s flowing and that has its obvious impacts,” continued Mr Law.
Having stood at the junction of Tullybrannigan Road and Slievenamaddy Avenue for almost four hours, he said that the water “was rushing down, just like a river”.
He added that “the drains were overpowered, and eventually just stopped working”.
“People were doing what they could, and where they could,” he said.
Mr Law added that it had been suggested the town’s reserve of sandbags “just ran out”.
“Anyone who was able to help did; we were doing our best with limited resources.
“We have heard some terrible stories over the past 24 hours, people were very worried.
“But,” he concluded, “there was a real sense of community spirit, and we did what we could.”
Some residents had the floodwater lapping both the front and back doors to their homes.
In a cul-de-sac not far from where Mr Law had been working to help clear a drain, Naomi Scullin-Ayoub described it as “some of the worst flooding we have ever experienced”.
She said she and her neighbours in Slievemoyne Park were left “trapped” by the rising waters, which she described as some of the worst flooding to be witnessed in this part of the town in living memory.
Naomi said that a speed bump installed over a decade ago, and close to the entrance to Tullybrannigan Road, traps water in the area, and that blocked drains, which are “rarely cleared,” have made the problem worse.
The mum-of-two said she became increasingly worried over the weekend that the forecasted rains would lead to a serious incident.
Describing the scene on Sunday as “like a river with nowhere to go,” Naomi said the water was “literally centimetres from entering our properties,” and that one of her neighbours went out in waders, with the water level coming to just below his waist.
“It was so high.
“People can’t be expected to keep putting up with this.”
Naomi added that the speed-deterrent ramp compounds the problem when there is heavy rainfall, “as it pools and has nowhere to go”.
Calling for more thorough and regular clearing of drains and gullies, Naomi said any time there is heavy rain, she is on tenterhooks.
“We never know how bad it will be until we’re in the middle of it.
“It’s not a nice way to live.”
Speaking on Monday evening, she revealed that her house has flooded twice in the past 20 years and that on Sunday, she feared it was just hours away from being engulfed for the third time.
Naomi added that a floodgate was put up on Sunday, once it became clear what was unfolding, but she knew it was not a definitive answer to stopping any damage.
Putting her thanks on record to Councillor Laura Devlin, Naomi said that the 12-hour wait for a lorry to arrive to tackle the blocked drains “was just too much,” and explained that once it began clearing Slievemoyne Park it was there for a good two hours.
“The workmen were still there at 11pm, but that was 15 hours after we started making the calls to the flooding incident line,” she continued.
The local woman is also adamant that the speed ramp along Tullybrannigan Road needs relocated or modified.
“We have this huge lump of concrete across the road. It needs to be removed, or replaced with a staggered version at the very least.
“All it does is hold the water back and when the surge comes down the road, it ends up flowing in here, to our homes.
“It’s just not fair, and in truth, I feel like we are just forgotten about.”
She added that residents have in recent years taken it upon themselves to call the Department for Infrastructure every year, requesting that the drains be cleared.
She also said the entire area needs to be decontaminated.
“It’s not pleasant to think about what was in the water. I’ve been putting disinfectant down today, but have to be extra vigilant about what we are walking in.”
“Our children are aged two and three, and we have two dogs. We can’t let them outside because of what was surrounding our home.”
