Floods strand woman

Floods strand woman

12 July 2011

THE Roads Service is refusing to help an 86 year-old pensioner who is stranded in her Downpatrick home every time there is a heavy downpour.

Emily Patterson, who couldn’t leave her Cotterhill Road home for two weeks recently because floods, has appealed for an end to what she’s described as her “flooding nightmare.”

Mrs. Patterson lives close to the Cotterhill Road junction with the main Belfast Road, an area that floods every time there is heavy rain because of blocked gullies. But the Roads Service says the road outside her home is not adopted and is refusing to clean the two gullies as a goodwill gesture.

Mrs. Patterson said hundreds of gallons of water cascades down the Belfast Road into the Cotterhill Road and said once two drains outside her home fill up, the water level starts to rise.

“The drains outside my home have coped with rain for over 40 years but for the past three years they quickly become overwhelmed and can’t deal with the amount of water pouring into them. As a result, the road starts to flood,” she explained.

“I have asked for help but none has been forthcoming. I’m continually told the section of road outside my home isn’t adopted so there isn’t anything that can be done.”

Two weeks ago, Mrs. Patterson’s GP had to be assisted into the pensioner’s home by neighbours after the flood level had risen again.

“The road outside my home was part of the Old Belfast Road. There are two gullies in it but yet the Roads Service says it isn’t responsible. I can’t understand why. Every time it rains I become a prisoner in my own home,” she continued.

“I was born in this house and after growing up and getting married I subsequently came back to live in it. I know every nook and cranny of this area and am well aware that this road never flooded in the past the way it does now.”

Mrs. Patterson added: “I want this issue addressed. When there’s heavy rain I can’t get out of my home. This is no way to live.”

A Roads Service spokeswoman said the organisation raised kerbs along the Belfast Road in 2009 to prevent water coming into a section of Cotterhill Road off the main Belfast Road. She said there is currently no water going into this area from the main road.

“A portion of the Cotterhill Road is treated as a private lane, as responsibility for maintenance was never transferred to the Roads Service by the old Down Rural District Council. Roads Service has never had any responsibility for this section and had no input into the initial alignment,” she explained.

“Whilst we appreciate how frustrating this is for residents, Roads Service cannot use public money to carry out maintenance on private property.”