Louth flooding: ‘We were part of the river ... we opened the back doors and let it run through’

“The message that has to go out of here is that the drains in Carlingford did not work”.

So said Tom McArdle of the Carlingford Adventure Centre in Co Louth as he waded through the small streets of the town which is sandwiched between Savage Hill on the slopes of Slieve Foye and Carlingford Lough.

After heavy rains all day on Monday a local stream on the hill burst its banks, bringing mud and small stones cascading through the town at about 1am.

Water could still be seen bubbling up from manholes in the narrow streets on Tuesday evening, as locals pumped out premises and deployed sandbags in anticipation of even more flooding.

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“It came through the adventure centre and rose to about four feet in front of glass doors. About 3am we broke the glass in the door. At that stage we realised we were part of the river, so we opened the back doors and let it run through”, said Mr McArdle.

The damage to the adventure centre and its hostel bedrooms was already immense. A basement and ground floor bedrooms were flooded as were three central heating boilers, while machines in a laundry room were also soaked and coated in mud.

With the help of Marty McDonald and Thomas and Peadar Murphy among others Mr McArdle said he had spent the night attempting to free up blocked drains, but with water coming out of the drains on to the streets it was a difficult undertaking.

On Old Quay Lane Peadar McDonald and a local Garda were helping residents who woke up on Tuesday to find the downstairs of their homes under two feet of water and mud.

One of the residents, Bevevi Buhooa said she tried to put her food up on tables, but couches and low-lying cupboards were ruined.

She said when she opened her front door she was greeted with beer barrels floating in the laneway.

Outside Ma Baker’s bar Cian Murphy said he too had worked through the night to try to divert the torrent from the front of the pub. But he said the back of the premises, on lower ground had been badly hit.

Mr Murphy said a local quarry was bringing in sand bags as they braced themselves for potential further downpours due to Storm Ciarán.

The staff at Feeley’s fish and chip shop, were grim faced as they shovelled and swept away wet mud.

Aidan McGreevy who works in the adventure centre said the floods had taken people by surprise. “My wife was coming into Carlingford last night and was concerned about the roads. I told her it was fine, but then the river came in,” he said.

On the main road from Dundalk into Carlingford through Jenkinstown and Lordship flooding forced many cars to turn back and traffic alternated in a single line through the water. Water could be seen pouring like rivers through gateways while pumps were deployed to move floods to lower grounds.

“I hope we are not still doing this tomorrow,” Mr McGreevy said.

Meanwhile a bridge close to Riverstown partially collapsed amid rising water on the Cooley Peninsula.

The main motorway and train line linking Belfast and Dublin were both affected by flooding on Tuesday, causing major disruption for cross-Border travellers.