A
DUNDROD woman was forced to wade waist high in water in the
early hours of Sunday morning to bring her ten-week-old baby to
safety.
Colette Coyle and her family had been
holidaying in Windsor caravan park in Newcastle all summer but
in the early hours of Sunday morning a deluge of water caused by
the freak weather swept through submerging their caravan and two
cars -a Toyota Starlet and a Ford Galaxy.
The family were wakened around 2am by screams
from their neighbours who had seen what was happening. It is
believed that a local river had burst its banks causing
widespread flooding.
Colette lifted her baby Ronan while her
husband Patrick grabbed the other children James (10), Caitlin
(7) and Patricia (4). Colette's mother Patricia
Gallagher, who suffers from a heart condition, and her
father-in-law Brian Coyle were also staying in the caravan.
Colette
described the experience as a 'total nightmare. "I hardly had
time to get
the family out of the caravan," said Colette.
"We got up and I could not believe what I was seeing. The
children were crying and screaming, it was all very chaotic.
"It was terrifying, I have never seen
anything like it in my life. I am still in a state of shock
thinking back on it. I held the baby and would not let anyone
else hold him because I was afraid he would slip.
"It was like a nightmare that I thought we were
all going to wake up from." Colette said they tried to ring the
emergency services but to no avail.
They remained on the site until the next day
when they rang relatives to come and bring them all home. "This
is our second home so at least we had a home to come back to"
she said. "It is still devastating and we are all very sad. We
love to stay in the caravan. We are just picking up the pieces
and contacting the insurance company.
"I am just so glad that we are all safe and
well. I feel so sorry for anyone whose house was destroyed."
Drinking water safe following floods
RESIDENTS are being advised that drinking
water in the Lisburn area is safe to drink -despite the severe
flooding.
A Northern Ireland Water spokesperson said
the security of drinking water had not been affected.
"Despite many people- experiencing both
internal and external flooding, NI Water can assure customers
that their drinking water is completely safe to drink" they
said.
"Despite the exceptional volume of rainfall
and the resultant surface flooding, all of our water supply
assets remained fully functional. The only exception to this is
an
interruption to supply for customers in the
South Down area. This was due to a damaged outlet main from
Fofanny Treatment Works which was a result of rain damage over
the weekend to the Cavan Road, Rathfriland. Whilst this has
caused an interruption to water supply, the quality of drinking
water is not in question.
"NI Water sample and analyse drinking water 365 days of the
year to proactively check the quality of drinking water at our
customer's taps. Our water supply is stringently monitored and
this strict scrutiny has remained in place during this flooding
period."
Ulster Star
22/08/2008
|