TORRENTIAL RAIN swept across a small Gaeltacht village yesterday trapping people in their homes and forcing motorists to abandon their cars.
A monsoon-like downpour hit the small picturesque village of Gweedore in Co Donegal at around 2pm yesterday and continued causing havoc throughout yesterday evening.
One woman, Eibhlin Ní Dhochartaigh, and her two-year-old child Jean had to be rescued in a boat from the upstairs window of her flower business by the local coast and cliff rescue services.
Shops in the Derrybeg area were reported to be 6ft deep in water and firemen attended the scene as locals continued to battle the rising tide of water.
The old chapel in Gweedore, where five people drowned in August of 1880, was once again under siege with water flooding through the front porch.
The 8ft concrete pillars on the front-gates were almost completely submerged in water at around 7pm.
Speculation mounted in the afternoon that the local elderly people’s home, the Ionad Lae in Derrybeg, might also have to evacuated.
Services throughout the area came to a standstill and ambulances were put on standby as rivers burst their banks and roads flooded. Fire tenders worked throughout the day rescuing people who were trapped in their homes as waters continued to rise and as flash flooding compounded problems.
Glenties Garda station issued a warning to all motorists to stay at home and only drive if it was absolutely necessary.
The area that was worst hit spanned Bunbeg to Carrick. Road closures continued throughout the day as flooding made routes impassable and locals were anxious that the rain would stop before nightfall.
One member of the emergency services at the scene said: “At around 1.45pm it began to rain very heavily. At half past four we got a call to the Derrybeg Business Retail Park.
“A number of the factories were flooded. Water was running in the one side of one and straight through out the other side. Suddenly we were inundated with calls.”
At this point the fire stations at neighbouring areas Falcarragh and Dungloe were alerted to the scene.
“One fire brigade stayed at the factories while the Falcarragh firemen went to the aid of local shops.
“The Dungloe firemen went to the local nursing home and diverted waters away from the building.”
Fears mounted last night as bursts of rain continued to fall intermittently that flooding around the front of the old chapel would not recede.
A Gweedore local Dónall Mac Giolla Choill said: “This spate of weather was completely and utterly unexpected.
“We had been promised a scorching summer but instead we got a downpour of near biblical proportions.
“It would be sure to put a dampener of the bonfire celebrations in the northwest.”