Partners from across the Northern Ireland Civil Service, PSNI, Local Government, NI Fire and Rescue Service, NI Ambulance Service, the Health Service, Coastguard are working alongside the Red Cross to provide support in the areas affected by this week’s floods.
In the aftermath of this period of wet weather, partners such as the Red Cross are working with a range of multi-agency partners in the worst affected areas to support the needs of people and communities in the days and weeks ahead as they try to rebuild their lives and livelihoods after these often difficult, complex, and traumatic experiences.
The Scheme of Emergency Financial Assistance (SEFA) is also available to homeowners who have encountered significant inconvenience due to flooding inside their homes, offering eligible applicants a £1,000 payment through their respective local councils.
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Cllr Valerie Harte said,
“Working as part of the multi-agency response, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council staff have been on the ground at flooding incidents across the district and remain on site to assist residents and businesses. The Council is still in emergency response, with significant flooding in Downpatrick and Newcastle, as well as Newry. Council staff continue to assist Department for Infrastructure staff, including with the distribution of sandbags for the use in constructing flood defences across the district. As well as providing emergency assistance, the Council has adapted its services wherever possible. The Council will be providing practical assistance in the clean-up operation and is ready to play a significant role in the recovery phase.
"The Council would like to thank everyone who has assisted so far from across local government, including Belfast City Council, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, and the many community and voluntary representatives.”
Commenting on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) response Chief Executive Grainia Long, said:
“Teams across NIHE have been working hard to ensure that services to tenants continue to be delivered. We have also supported households who have left their homes due to flooding. This has been a distressing time for people impacted, and our local teams have been providing advice and assistance alongside other statutory agencies. I am grateful for the work of NIHE colleagues who have been working around the clock in very challenging circumstances.
“I am also very grateful for the commitment of our maintenance contractors in Newry in recent days. PK Murphy has been providing assistance to the Department for Infrastructure to deal with the severe flooding in the city and provided a team who assisted DFI throughout the night and also provided almost 1,000 sandbags to help alleviate the situation.
“We will continue to monitor the situation across the areas affected, assist where we can and engage and collaborate with all other partners to ensure that households are kept safe.”
Many roads are closed and people are being reminded to stay away from flood defences, flooded areas and watercourses as these areas may be unsafe until an assessment of the damage caused by the heavy rain can be made. Flooding may have extensive and significant impacts on health and well-being, therefore we appeal to people to avoid flood water to minimise any risks to life.
People are also reminded to pay attention to the road closure advice. Many roads are closed because of flood conditions which are not suitable for traffic to go through. Where necessary, temporary road or lane closures have been put in place on roads blocked by flooding and resources assigned to clear blocked pipes and gullies across affected areas.
The most up to date information on road closures is available on Trafficwatchni.
Flooding should be reported a soon as possible to the Flooding Incident Line on 0300 2000 100.
If you have already reported with the Flooding Incident Line or if you need further assistance, please consider contacting your local council.
Since Monday 30 October there have been over 13,000 calls to the Flooding Incident Line and approximately 13,000 sandbags have been deployed to areas where rain intensity, high tides and saturated ground has caused the flooding.
Information about preparing for possible flooding, and what to do after a flood, is available at: nidirect - Flooding in your area.
Advice for road users in all adverse weather conditions can be found at: nidirect - Driving in adverse weather.
Notes to editors:
- All media queries should be directed to the Department for Infrastructure Press Office at: press.office@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk
- The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.
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