PERSISTENT torrential rain may have been causing chaos for motorists and residents in the North West area in the past week, but residents in Newbuildings are among the worst affected with some people's gardens awash with water.
Roads in the village have coursed with water and one man’s garden in the Woodside Road area has resembled an outdoor swimming pool for much of the past 10 days.
Tortured for several years by floodwater in his garden, David Hay, a funeral director,
said this week’s forecasts for more heavy rain left him in fear that his home would flood. Last week’s water rose to a foot-and-a-half-deep in his garden and prevented him from parking the vehicles associated with his funeral business in his yard.
“I have had a flooding problem at my home for about three weeks. There is a pipe or storm drain that that runs from the top of the hill right down through my property and through Silverbook and out through Hayfield Park, and there appears to be a problem. If the water could not have escaped down my laneway it would have flooded my home.
“I had the same problem two years back and at that time Roads Service told me the problem was in my yard. So, I opened my yard and discovered that it wasn’t in my yard that was the problem, but was somewhere in the pipe either across the main road at Hayfield Park or somewhere else. In the past two to three weeks the flooding has occurred again, so I contacted Roads Service, and they claimed it wasn’t their responsibility. The Rivers Agency was out and and they said they had done all they could two years ago, so I wasn’t getting anywhere with them. On Tuesday of last week the DoE jet hosed the pipe, but could only get the hose down to the junction at Hayfield Park, so it has been left now, but the pipe was almost three-quarters full and if heavy rain comes again we will be back to square one,” he said.
His plight has been taken up by DUP Alderman, Maurice Devenney, who said the flooding was an ongoing problem.
“By profession he is an undertaker and for almost a week he could not get his vehicles up to the house because of the flooding. A number of years ago there was a serious problem with flooding there and the DoE rectified it by putting in a bigger pipe, but it seems to be an ongoing problem at this gentleman’s house.
“When we bring Roads Service out they say it is an issue for the owners, and they may say it is a matter for the Rivers Agency, but when you bring them out they throw it back to Roads Service. The pipe he has on his property must be over 100 years old or 150 years old and I think there must be a blockage somewhere in it.
“Roads Service have now agreed to put in a gulley at the side of the road to help alleviate the problem, but it is going to take a month or two. It is very worrying for everyone out there that there is flooding every time there is heavy rain,” he said..
A DRD spokeswoman said: "Roads Service have investigated this matter. Gullies and drainage within the roads are functioning well, however, futher downstream there is an obstruction causing a blockage within a pipe. This pipe is on private land. This is a matter for the owner of that land to clear the blockage.”
