Newry Flooding 31-10-23

News Letter

31/10/2023

Newry Canal bursts its banks

Transcript

00:00 This is Neary Town Hall.

00:14 Council workers sandbagging to protect the town centre from flooding.

00:23 This is the River Clon Rye.

00:52 This is most definitely never at this height.

01:03 Speaking to Carolyn, Callum and Mason here, standing outside Neary Town Hall.

01:10 The sandbags are in place to try and stop the flooding from spreading.

01:15 Callum, you don't think these sandbags are going to hold, do you?

01:18 No, because since it's raining the water might increase and if the water increases

01:24 it's going to overflow the sandbags and it seems the water is leaking through the sandbags.

01:30 And the water is leaking through the sandbags.

01:31 Carolyn, you've never seen flooding this bad here in Neary, have you?

01:34 Never this bad before.

01:35 Callum and I came down last night and we were saying you could see the arches on the bridge

01:40 but now this morning you can't see them.

01:42 Because if you didn't know this area, you might think this was a pond but it's not.

01:45 This is a river and that's normally a bridge that you can see under, isn't that right?

01:49 It is, and then it's a canal that's done the damage to the canal on the other side.

01:52 Yes.

01:53 And that's where the water has exploded from.

01:56 Right, okay.

01:57 So what are people in Neary saying, Carolyn?

01:59 They just can't believe it, really.

02:01 Most of us have never seen anything like this before.

02:04 A friend had been saying that it was the 1970s, somebody's father had photographed from the

02:09 1970s, that was the last time something like this had been so bad.

02:13 But in my time I've never seen anything like this.

02:16 Okay, and you're concerned it might get worse?

02:18 You're concerned it might get worse, Callum?

02:19 Well, high tides are meant to come in.

02:20 What, sorry?

02:21 High tides are meant to come in in another two hours.

02:23 Oh, two hours, right.

02:24 So whenever that happens, the water levels are going to go up again.

02:27 Go up again?

02:28 Yeah.

02:29 Really?

02:30 Yeah, so I think that's maybe why there are more sandbags here at the Town Hall.

02:33 Okay.

02:34 I'm trying to see if I can get down Hill Street.

02:36 Right.

02:37 I just reached there just now.

02:38 Okay.

02:39 Right, that's crazy, isn't it?

02:40 Well, I would say the best thing to do, after this is all over, I would say they would probably,

02:49 after this is all over, I would say it's probably a good idea to put overflows in the rivers.

02:55 Yeah, but I think you've got a future in river engineering, Callum, because you seem to have

02:59 it all down.

03:00 Thank you very much indeed.

03:01 This is Brenton Downey, Director of Friartux Restaurants.

03:25 Brenton, we're standing here looking at your restaurant here in Neary Town Centre.

03:30 Obviously, the water has caused catastrophic damage.

03:33 It's quite clear here.

03:35 This is a 50-year event.

03:36 Do you remember this happening 50 years ago?

03:38 Early 1970s, the Clann Rye burst its bank with the old wall.

03:42 People think the river is doing the harm.

03:45 It's the canal that's doing the harm here.

03:46 The canal is overflowed.

03:50 You first got word about 10 o'clock last night?

03:53 Well, we were watching the river the whole day.

03:54 We knew we were watching the river.

03:56 We were afraid that the river burst its bank.

03:58 We didn't anticipate the canal coming around the corner.

04:01 An army of people wouldn't have sorted this out.

04:05 You did initially try to use sandbags, did you?

04:07 We had our own sandbags for small floods, which we'd never used before.

04:12 We needed lorry loads, and we got lorry loads.

04:15 We got seven tonne or something, one stage a ride, which was no good.

04:19 An army wouldn't have sorted it out.

04:20 Look at that there.

04:21 It's unbelievable.

04:23 Once in a lifetime flood.

04:25 You're hopeful your insurance will cover this, Brenton?

04:27 That's the hope.

04:28 I made a phone call this morning.

04:29 It hasn't come back to me yet, but I'm hoping that we'll certainly have a cover for this.

04:33 If we don't, we're in deep trouble.

04:35 What's the general mood amongst the business community that are affected here in Uirea, Brenton?

04:39 Stunned. Shocked.

04:41 We're still in shock.

04:45 I'm numb.

04:47 I've got any idea what sort of timescale the clear-up will be.

04:54 I think we'll be closed for months.

04:56 I don't know.

04:57 That's a bit long to me, but I'll probably go to temporary permits or something.

05:01 OK.

05:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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