Newry flood measures not put to the test - This time!

Flood measures put in place in Newry city last evening 27 January by several statutory agencies thankfully weren't put to the test, with the Clanrye River continuing to take massive amounts of water out to sea and very little water from the river flowing into the canal.

Business owners can breathe a sigh of relief for now, with many of them still recovering from the major damage caused to their businesses by the last major flooding in the city in October/ November 2023.

Water from the hills continues to make its way in to the watercourse and currently the Clanrye remains at a high level. High tides are forecast for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. With today being mainly dry it should help ensure the level doesn't rise any further but any heavy rain later in the week could be problematic.

With a high tide expected at 6pm last night Newry BID and Rivers Agency led the race against time to put preventative measures in place, with help from the NI Fire and Rescue Service, PSNI, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and local businesses.

Dry Run

In hindsight yesterday's preparations could be seen as a 'dry run' for a future flood event.  Barriers filled with water were placed along the side of the canal while sandbags were distributed and placed in front of premises around Sugar Island and also alongside the canal in places. Council regulated the flow of the canal with measures at Victoria Lock and other lock gates. NIFRS were also on hand with pumps in case water needed transferred from one water course to another.

A cause of concern

While these measures were very welcome they are no substitute to long talked about flood defence measures. Flood barrier work is proposed in the area around the Clanrye River at Newry Town Hall but no definite date has been set for these. A wall that fell behind the town hall in the floods of 2023 hasn't been repaired to date.

A 'History of Flooding' section of the AECOM report for the Rivers Agency written in 2017 interestingly describes a similar scenario to what caused the most recent 2023 flood which caused millions of pounds damage to local businesses.  "A near miss incident occurred on 24th October 2011 where floodwater flowed from the Newry River into the Newry Canal overtopping the flood bank designed to prevent this occurrence and reduce flood risk downstream in Newry City Centre. No flooding occurred in the City Centre on this occasion however overtopping of the flood bank is a cause of concern."

Today a small amount of water continues to overtop the flood bank into the canal but this should ease as level in the river drops.