'It comes up into the shop through the bottom of the toilet': Giftware shop owner tells how premises flooded with sewage after rising river levels from Storm Chandra
A business in Dromore Co Down has seen its entire bottom floor flooded with sewage in the aftermath of Storm Chandra.
In Dromore Co Down, Sophie Ingram, proprietor of Country Choice giftware shop, noticed the ground
floor of her shop beginning to flood at 11am.
"I just couldn't believe it," she told the News Letter. "I couldn't believe this was happening. I Just didn't
know where to turn."
The water kept rising steadily until the raging and swollen River Lagan was only inches away from
bursting through her downstairs windows.
At the last minute, lorries from the Department of Infrastructure (DFI) pulled up and got to work to
begin pumping water out of their sewerage system.
Earlier, her husband Gary explained how the siuation had unfolded during the day.
“I opened the sewerage system outside and the manholes were sitting full of water that can't get out into the river,” he Gary.
“And because all the flood water goes into the sewerage system the whole thing just floods – it's come up into the shop through the bottom of the toilet.”
He said this has never happened to them before.
It is much too early to say what the cost might be but their bottom floor is likely to be closed for months.
They were unable to get flood insurance because it had flooded 20 years ago.
He has been in touch with the Department for Infrastructure and was waiting for them to bring a pump – which just arrived as the News Letter was leaving.
He had also been in touch with the fire service, praising the support he had from both organisations.
“The fire service had emergency calls because they had people stuck in houses that couldn't get out due to the floods.
“They were actually on their way here, and they got the call to go and rescue somebody.”
For him, the main problem is the sewerage system provided by NI Water has not been updated in some 50 years to take account of all the local building development since then.