Westlink Floods As Scale Model Completed

Very heavy rain last night sparked fears of a repeat of last August's severe flooding in a newly opened urban motorway.

But the construction of a model of the crucial Westlink underpass area has now been completed - with tests underway for calibration and validation.

Last December, the scale model was commissioned of the contentious Broadway underpass as part of a plan to prevent a recurrence of last summer's severe flooding.

It left the newly built multi-million pound underpass under 20 feet of water.

The £40,000 model, on a scale of one in 20 is about 10 metres by 10 metres and has taken almost six months to complete.

It is one of the official responses to a report into the severe flooding, with a conclusion being reached that the underpass could in fact flood again - as has proved to be the case - in a limited way - on this new occurrence.

The work on the model remains on target to be completed in full during June, according to a spokeswoman at the Department for Regional Development.

The new flash-flooding caused traffic disruption across Belfast on Tuesday, with traffic slowed to a crawl in many parts of the city due to water swelling off roads and into footpaths.

Flooding had once again occurred in the new Westlink underpass, with traffic having to slow down to safely negotiate the area - with just a single lane passable in each direction during the busiest part of the Rush Hour.

A Roads Service spokeswoman said that "a short burst of exceptionally heavy rain" caused some surface water lay on the road for a short period of time.

However, she said: "This was cleared very quickly and no major delays to traffic were incurred," she said.

"Roads Service and contractor staff were on hand to monitor the situation."

One of the other concerns was also in the Westlink area, as unusual flooding on the Grosvenor Road slowed traffic and made conditions difficult for some pedestrians.

At the same time, a police spokesman said that flooding had disrupted traffic at the junction of the Malone Road and Stranmillis Road.

East Belfast MLA Michael Copeland said around a dozen streets in the Lagan Village area were also hit by noticeable flooding.

"On Carrington Street there is a common system with sewage and the effluent left on the street after the flooding subsided was stinking," he said.

"I had three complaints from across the area. In some areas the water was up over the kerbs and onto the footpaths.

"On this occasion I did not hear of any homes being flooded, but it was a close run thing."

There were also reports of manholes being partly lifted in the nearby Short Strand as the volume of water flooded from overstretched drains on the main thoroughfare.

See: Repeat Westlink Flood Warning Issued

(BMcC)