THERE have been calls for housing providers to step up to the mark after serious flooding in Ardoyne.
Heavy rainfall last Friday saw homes in the Brompton Park and Etna Drive areas worst hit by the weather. Some residents were left with a massive clean-up operation, including raw sewage.
North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly, who was on the ground helping residents said a poor level of maintenance contributed to some of the worst aspects of flooding.
“I’m calling for all housing providers to step up to the mark and protect tenants after serious flooding in parts of North Belfast at the weekend," he said.
“It’s important to point out that some housing bodies responded swiftly to the floods which overwhelmed the drainage system and left silt and sewage in local gardens.
“However clearly for many tenants a poor level of maintenance contributed to some of the worst aspects of the flooding.
“We were at homes with sand bags and offering assistance during the event and it was obvious that drains hadn’t been kept clear, gutters were overgrown and a build up of moss and weeds had made matters much worse.
“We are facing much more of these types of extreme weather events and housing providers along with the Department For Infrastructure need to prepare in advance.
“Many of the major flooding incidents don’t need massive sums of investment to prevent bad outcomes, rather much of these problems can be avoided with regular maintenance as tenants would reasonably expect.
“Nobody wants to see their home destroyed with sewage and spend months dealing with the consequences of a flood.
“Luckily this time we have escaped the worst of it but this weekend's floods should be a wake up call particularly for housing providers at a time when so many people are on the housing waiting list and when we can’t afford for homes to be uninhabitable.”
SDLP Oldpark councillor Paul McCusker blamed NI Water on some of the problems in Ardoyne.
"Residents in Ardoyne have been left to clean up sewage, unable to cook and wash and following reports to NI Water they have failed to address these problems," he said.
"NI Water advising residents that it will be an urgent response, no contact or contractor was tasked to deal with these reports.
"Following heavy rain fall homes have experienced flooding which include elderly residents and young families. Sandbags were delivered by Belfast City Council and homes still have sewage in their gardens with residents fearful this could cause damage to their properties.
"We need an urgent response that will reassure local residents and to investigate why this has happened, with more heavy rain forecast local residents need to be supported to prevent further flooding and to help with the clean up.
"I will be writing to the Department For Infrastructure, Department For Communities and Belfast City Council to ask for an urgent response.
"It’s unacceptable to leave those residents affected to deal with this on their own."
A spokesperson for NI Water said: “NI Water responded to a high number of customer contacts for flooding and sewer blockages on Friday and Saturday and NI Water teams and contractors were dispatched across Northern Ireland.
"Teams were dispatched to Ardoyne to help with the clean up operation with additional resource deployed on Sunday to continue the clean-up.
“NI Water did not experience any failures of its asset infrastructure. Where blocked sewers contributed to flooding, NI Water has cleared these and will follow up with CCTV investigations if necessary.
"Staff attended individual properties and carried out clean-up and disinfectant operations where out of sewer flooding occurred."
