Northern Ireland flooding: Forty Portadown families to be out of homes for six months - devastated Newry businesses ask for counselling

Newry, Portadown and Downpatrick and Newcastle were especially badly hit. Parts of Banbridge Dromore and Armagh were also affected.

The Department of Infrastructure (DFI) said on Friday that water levels in most areas had started to recede and recovery operations were well underway in Newry and other locations.

It said River Bann water levels are also falling and that should lead to an improvement in conditions in Portadown over the next couple of days. Lough Neagh is expected to peak over the weekend and is not likely to reach the levels experienced in the winter of 2015, it added.

However, water levels in watercourses remain stubbornly high in the Downpatrick area and this has had an impact on the viability of beginning planned pumping operations on Friday.

Carla Lockhart told the News Letter that some 40 homes in the Portadown area had flooded and at least 20 businesses.

The worst hit areas in the town were the Garvaghy Road, Tandragee Road and Armagh Road areas.

"The aftermath now is around supporting these people financially," she said. "People whose houses flooded will be out of their homes for about six months for repairs to be done.

"It's devastating for those homes - a lot of emotion. When I was with them over the last couple of days, a lot of people just sat crying and looking at their property under several feet of water."

Insurance cover was working well in providing temporary accommodation for them, she said, with neighbours also putting people up.

Eamonn Connolly, Managing Director of Newry BID (Business Improvement District), called an impromptu meeting at the Canal Court Hotel on Thursday which night drew almost 100 businesses - and one of their requests was for counselling."Phase one was shock," he said. "Phase two was just despair."

He added: "A lot of the people are independent traders, family businesses with lifetime involvement, people who have invested in their businesses and recently brought in their Christmas stock.

“And they are now in a very challenging position with no turnover and no insurance, through no fault of their own; Flood cover was widely withdrawn after flooding in 2007. But there's a lot of a fantastic sense of civic pride, there's volunteerism, there's benefit in kind. There are a lot of business owners we are having to put our arm around to support them in their hour of need.”

The NI Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said this week that from Monday until Wednesday it received 162 emergency flood related calls.

On Wednesday at 6:30pm one appliance from Lurgan was called to a flood rescue on Clarehill Road in Moira.

NIFRS said: "Firefighters used specialist equipment to rescue one person and one dog from a vehicle. The incident was dealt with by 7.58pm."

A reader sent in a photo of Lurgan retained crew commander Dean McClatchy rescuing the dog from the flooded vehicle.

In Portadown, keen pike fisherman Stefan Douglas got his boat out after visiting family in the Ashgrove area off the Garvaghy Road area.

"One thing led to another and then I ended up pulling the boat out to help get folks out of houses that needed it."

He helped six people to evacuate and delivered medicines and supplies to several homes totally surrounded by flood water on Island Road.

"They could only get out so far on a tractor and then the boat had to bring resources up to them," he added.An existing programme is in place to help homeowners with flood damage via local councils. But Retail NI and Hospitality Ulster have said there is no financial aid available for businesses.

In a joint statement, they urged the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-HarrisMr Heaton-Harris to provide an immediate funding package.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson told PA: “The UK Government is in close contact with the Northern Ireland Civil Service regarding the severe flooding across the region.

“Whilst this is a devolved matter for the relevant NI departments, we will continue to work closely with the NI Civil Service in the days ahead.”