Despair as home flooded for second time in weeks

Despair as home flooded for second time in weeks

3 January 2024

A CONCERNED Newcastle man has expressed dismay after his parents’ home was flooded for the second time in six weeks.

Paul Toner said flooding is becoming a “recurring issue” with the latest flood at Marguerite Avenue  in the resort coming in the wake of Storm Gerrit which the Met Office warned would bring up to 60mm of rain in some areas and powerful wind gusts. 

Mr Toner said his father John has health difficulties and because of the recent flooding there were “problems getting oxygen to him”.

“The guy who delivers my father’s oxygen couldn’t come to the house so I had to walk up through the flood to get it before he drove off,” he explained.

Mr Toner explained that the flooding can lead to “increased anxiety levels” for his dad. 

“My parents’ house has been impacted twice in six weeks. We had to get dehumidifiers and heat to dry out the house last time and neighbours opposite were gutted. They had their houses wrecked, repaired, refurbished and ruined again.”

Paul explained that any time there’s rain, because there was a flood wall built along the banks of the Shimna river, water backs up at the junction outside houses in the Marguerite area.

He continued: “This happened six weeks ago when two of the neighbours’ houses across the way were flooded. One family has moved out and hasn’t moved back in and the other house had work done and it’s flooded again.”

Newcastle has flooded regularly over the past 50 years and Mr Toner believes the source for ongoing floods in the Marguerite area is the Burren river, which merges with the Shimna.

In October 2022, former infrastructure minister John O’Down announced the completion of the £6.3m Shimna River flood alleviation scheme.

A flood alleviation scheme also covered the lower reaches of the Burren River where it flows through an urban area of Newcastle.

This particular area has a history of flooding problems, statistically causing damage to 800 public and private properties. However, Mr Toner said that attempting to solve one flooding issue has “created other problems in different areas”. 

He continued: “A bend in the street is the low point. It seems there’s a pump station there, but what’s happening is the water is going out. But because there’s a flood wall around the Burren, the water can’t drain out.

“It seems that because of the high tide, water is coming back up through the drains, out of the gullies and back into the street. When the river is full, water is coming back up into the street.”

Mr Toner said Mournes councillor, Laura Devlin, has been “very good” in helping locals, but he also hit out at the statutory bodies responsible for dealing with flooding.

South Down MLA Colin McGrath described the response from local agencies to the Marguerite Avenue flooding as “sluggish”.

He added: “The response from agencies was once again slow with several trying to absent themselves from blame and thus the cost of managing the issue which is not what local people need.

“We need to see a quick analysis of what is causing this flooding and see immediate steps taken to resolve them, but there must be a back-up plan in the meantime.”

Patrick Brown MLA has written to the DfI about repeated flooding in the Marguerite area, highlighting the need for grant funding to compensate residents.

“Many who applied for the Homeowner Flood Protection Grant six weeks ago have not received a penny and the slow pace at which this money is being rolled out is preventing residents from protecting their homes,” he added.

Cllr Devlin reported the flooding and wrote on Facebook: “Fire Brigade on site at Marguerite Avenue.

“Appalling that we are relying on the Fire Service – no proper response from NI Water nor Roads.”

She added: “It just doesn’t feel like the agencies are ‘there’ for local people when it is needed and that is disappointing and just adds to the frustrations that local people.”

The Department for Infrastructure said the Newcastle flooding can be attributed to “large accumulations of surface water following intensive rainfall”.

A spokesperson added: “Sandbags were deployed to properties in the area.”

Cllr Jill Truesdale believes flooding in the Marguerite area could have been prevented.