“I don’t know how authorities can say its safe to pass with due care and attention, when it clearly isn’t. How many more vehicles need to be damaged or destroyed?”
Several vehicles have been recovered from a notorious stretch of road which has remained open despite severe flooding caused by Storm Chandra.
Mullaghglass Road in Lisburn has been the site of multiple vehicle recoveries since a woman was stranded inside her vehicle in floodwater yesterday. NIFRS reportedly responded to the scene and assisted in the situation before apparently recommending that the road be closed.
But a nearby resident said the road remains inadequately signed, still open and a major safety hazard to both drivers and local people.
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Neil Wylie, 55, from Lisburn said: “I was standing beside the fire officer when he radioed through that the road should be closed immediately after they responded to the incident yesterday. The road should have been closed then and there, but instead vehicles are still coming through the area, it’s a joke. Several vehicles have become stranded and yet, the authorities have not closed the road. The road is a mess, and it is still open tonight, it will continue to get deeper with this weather.
“The Mullaghglass road has had issues for over a year now, this is a well known problem. There has been an ongoing saga with drains, they are clearly blocked and subsequently you have a lot of water flowing down the road. As a resident, I am trying to get the authorities to act sensibly because people’s safety is at risk. With the current weather the way it is, the road is going to continue filling with water. If you are driving from Lisburn going to Belfast, and you stay in your own lane, you will be completely flooded.”
According to the Lisburn man, the problem is exasperated by two different paths flowing water down into the hollow from both sides of the road. One comes from an old landfill site and the other from the Belfast side of the area which brings water from blocked drains and causes a stream. This then flows into the same hollow which sees water from both points cause flooding.
Mr Wylie said several vehicles have been stranded in the flood water including a sprinter van which has a higher clearance than most cars. The van became stranded around midday and was removed around 5pm this afternoon.
He added that every vehicle has been pulled out from the Pond Park Road side because that is the deepest point and claims that there are no road closure or warning signs from this direction. The concerned resident said that there is a single police hazard sign on the Belfast Road side which is the safest side of the area but he still doesn’t think vehicles should be approaching from that direction either as it is not safe to drive through there.
Mr Wylie said that the water is seven or eight inches deeper on the Pond Park Road side and he believes that the entire scene is unsafe for traffic. He is concerned that people will get into trouble tonight when it is pitch black, and stated he is genuinely worried that someone is going to get seriously injured.
Mr Wylie said: “I don’t know how authorities can say its safe to pass with due care and attention, when it clearly isn’t. They’ve already had reports and seen other vehicles stuck due to the flooding. How many more vehicles need to be damaged or destroyed? How many people need to go through this and be traumatised for something to be done?
“Every time a lorry goes through there, they are causing a full wake of water down one of the resident’s driveways which means it is also unsafe for people who live along here. It is a mess for local residents, if we go out, we have to take a detour via Milltown to get back to Lisburn. “Authorities are not taking this seriously, I have contacted authorities multiple times in the last 48 hours. I’ve been to my local MLA David Honeyford to approach police and the Department For Infrastructure which he said he has done at around lunchtime today. I think there has been around half-a-dozen vehicles that have got stuck here in the last two days.
“I’m not sitting out there all day watching but I haven’t seen any services out here clearing this up and there has been multiple recovery vehicles. There are no flood signs up, aside from a police hazard sign and one single cone but that is all there is to combat this situation and this is inadequate. “I offered to put some proper signage up but they didn’t have any. One officer said it was passable with care but this is simply not the case and people can’t drive through there safely as they try to navigate it by avoiding the deepest water. There is now curb damages due to vehicles going up onto the opposite side of the road in an attempt to pass safely.
“I watched a Volkswagen Golf come in from the Pond Park Road side and the water was over its bonnet when it was driving on the other side of the road, which was the most shallow spot. There is no signage there, but at around lunch time when he drove through, you could clearly see that the water is a dangerous obstacle. I don’t know how the vehicle didn’t stall and I don’t understand why the driver went through it with the water that high. I’d be shocked if the car wasn’t full of water, but I don’t know how it didn’t break down.”
Both the Department For Infrastructure and PSNI have been approached for comment.
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