Glenswilly freak flooding must not be repeated - councillor

The freak flooding that created havoc in the Glenswilly area last weekend must never be repeated.

That was the stark warning from local councillor, Donal Mandy Kelly yesterday (Wednesday) after he visited the road at Killymasney that was completely immersed in water following torrential rain last Saturday night-Sunday morning.

Damage was caused to the road surface and underground water pipes. This meant local traffic was disrupted and water supplies to nearby houses were cut off.

Council staff at work repairing the damaged pipes on Wednesday afternoon 

“The water comes down from the hills and the pipes along the road can't handle it. This is maybe the fourth or fifth time this has happened,” he said.

“It's shocking and what's worse, the council was warned that the pipes in this area would not cope with freak flooding like this.

“I brought the council executive to the area the last time and they recommitted to put in bigger pipes to carry the water coming down but as usual everything goes at a snail's pace and that's simply not good enough.

“I was told the council couldn't source the funding for bigger pipes. They are going to have to source it this time because this is shocking.” He added it was lucky no motorist drove into the flooding.

Council officials visited the site over the past few days and negotiations have been ongoing while repair work has been carried out.

Cllr Kelly said he was hopeful that a permanent solution could be found that would prevent such a disaster again.

“We have another meeting arranged for early next week and I am hopeful the council will find a way to ensure the proper solution is found. I will not be stopping until it is. We were lucky last weekend no one was injured or worse, we might not be so fortunate again.”