Floods Blight Bank Holiday Weekend

East Belfast was one of the areas worst affected by monsoon-style rain yesterday.

Some flooding was also reported in other parts of Down.

Bangor and Newtownards suffered from the rain and many of the areas flooded have already suffered serious flooding in recent years.

The Sydenham, Belmont and lower Ravenhill Road areas of Belfast were particularly badly hit too and the NI Fire and Rescue Service responded to several call outs and water was pumped out of a number of homes.

Ulster Unionist MLA Michael Copeland said he had visited several flood-stricken areas, including Cooneen Way in Cregagh, east Belfast and Marok in Castlereagh.

"A substantial proportion of people who have previously been affected by flooding continue to live in fear of a grey cloud and they are losing faith that the statutory agencies are prepared to address their problems," he said.

Mr Copeland also described Carrington Street at Ravenhill as being "just like a river" and he said Belfast Community Housing Association had put up flood barriers to deal with the emergency.

The Alliance party's Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long similarly raised the previous flooding suffered by many areas.

"Over the course of the last two to three years I have been in repeated contact with the Department for Regional Development, the Department for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of the Environment in relation to extensive flooding throughout east Belfast in the wake of heavy rainfall," she said.

At its worst yesterday, the police were calling on motorists to take extra care driving in Ards, Bangor and east Belfast following reports of surface water and flooding on a number of roads.

These included the Ballysallagh Road in Bangor, the Upper Knockbreda Road and Rosetta Road in east Belfast and the Crossgar Road in Ballynahinch. Localised flooding was also reported in several areas around Belfast, with the Belmont Road and Sydenham by-pass particularly affected.

(BMcC/GK)