‘Horror story repeated at every house’ - Sinn Fein

Councillor McKillop said: “The speed at which the area around Mill Street became flooded was frightening and the Fire Brigade arrived just as the water was entering houses and businesses and it was due to their fantastic work that damage was not more widespread.

“I also spent much of the evening with representatives of the Rivers Agency while they tried to deal with the volume of water and as they visited homes which were affected.”

Councillor Thompson witnessed a scene of devastation in several areas throughout The Glens.

He said: “I visited homes in Shore St, Mill St, Middlepark and Tavnahan Terrace in Cushendall and Knocknacarry and Layde Rd in Cushendun and many people were fearful not just their homes but for their safety such was the severity of the flooding

“Thankfully we have a great community spirit here in The Glens and farmers, builders and neighbours all joined in to help ensure the damage to homes and properties was kept to a minimum, however I will be asking for an urgent multi-agency meeting with Roads Service, Rivers Agency and NI Water to discuss what is now a reoccurring problem for people in the area.

“This is the third time in just over a year that we have had flooding and something needs to be done to prevent it happening in the future.”

Councillor Noreen McAllister said: “I was in Ballymena that afternoon/evening at a Moyle PCSP meeting and its just when I was leaving the meeting at 10pm that my phone started buzzing to alert me that I had a number of missed calls.

“It was just as my Sinn Féin colleague and I were listening to them all, that I heard the devastating news of the flash floods in the Glens and was totally shocked at what I was hearing as there was no such weather in Ballymena.

“I got home and called with the people that contacted me and one lady had told me how the water was running that hard like a river into her kitchen and she didn’t know what to do, she was in tears, so many people were very badly stressed. This horror story was being repeated at every house I called with.

“Since then I have been talking to Rivers Agency and Roads Service to inform them that Sinn Féin will be calling on a joined up meeting with all the agencies concerned on that night to stress that this is unacceptable and that something seriously needs to be put in place to prevent this from happening again.”