'Biblical' rainfall at Royal Black Preceptory Last Saturday parade - amid wet end to summer across Northern Ireland
It has been a wet end to the summer with Northern Ireland experiencing some of the heaviest rainfall in the UK at the weekend – with certain areas caught in short but heavy downpours.
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Heavy rain in Dundrum on Saturday resulted in the Royal Black Preceptory demonstration in the village being seriously curtailed. The return parade from the field was abandoned, as were the home district parades in their own towns.
One attendee at the Dundrum procession described the conditions when the main parade was taking place as “Biblical”, with “very severe” rain and wind.
The Met Office said there was in excess of five millimetres of rainfall across all of its rain gauges in Northern Ireland, however, the wettest spot in the province was Derrylin in Fermanagh – which recorded 18.8mm on Saturday.
Just behind it was Loch Fay in Co Tyrone with 16.2mm, and Killylane in Co Antrim had 16.0mm.
Murlough – not far from the washed out Black parade in Dundrum – came in fourth with 12.4mm. However, well over half of that rain fell in a short period, the Met Office said.
Parts of Northern Ireland hit by heavy rain got off lightly, however, compared to some parts of the Republic of Ireland. Twenty-six mm of rain was recorded at Connaught airport, the Met Office said.
The highest recorded rainfall in the UK as a whole was 19mm recorded in Machrihanish in Scotland.
“The Republic of Ireland had some even wetter conditions. But, quite widely across Northern Ireland, we probably had had at least five to 10 millimetres,” a Met Office spokesperson said.
“A few spots had in the region of 15 to 20 millimetres of rain. So quite a widely wet day. It wasn't just like the odd spot which had a deluge – with quite a few areas recording in excess of 15 millimetres.”
The unsettled weather will continue this week, as today sees another day of sunshine and scattered showers. Some of rain will be quite heavy, possibly thundery – with many areas escaping the heaviest of the rain.
The unsettled picture is expected to continue through the rest of the week.