Sandbags used to protect homes after flooding in County Down

People living in Newcastle County Down have been using sandbags to protect their homes after flooding caused by two days of heavy rainfall.

Samuel Guist, who lives in the Tullybrannigan Road area of the town, said streams of water where washing down past houses and continuing to rise.

“One of my neighbours who has lived here for 40 years said he has never seen anything like it,” Mr Guist said.

A yellow weather warning for rain in counties Antrim, Armagh, and Down has been extended until 15:00 BST and widened to include parts of counties Londonderry and Tyrone.

Sandbags were delivered to the area after residents alerted the NI Water Floodline.

Mr Guist said stones and gravel had washed down from the Mourne Mountains making some roads in the area almost impassable for vehicles.

He said residents had shovelled the stones and gravel to make barriers along with the sandbags to protect their homes.

“It is particularly bad on Sunningdale Drive, which runs on to Tullybrannigan Road,” he said.

“Four-by-fours are able to get up and down, but most cars are avoiding it.”

Alliance Party councillor Jill Truesdale also lives in the area and described seeing the water “funnelling down the mountain”.

“I’ve never seen so much debris come down before, it’s quite frightening,” she told BBC News NI.

She and her family are now unable to leave their house due to the flooding.

“It looks as if we are going to be [trapped] for a while because there’s also a high tide so we won’t be leaving, it’s not worth the risk,” Ms Truesdale said.

A Met Office alert issued for Antrim, Armagh, and Down on Friday was due to end at noon but the clearance of the rain has been slower than anticipated.

The warning area has also widened on Sunday to include parts of counties Londonderry and Tyrone.

The Met Office is expecting a further 10-20mm of rain in places, on top of what has already fallen, before clearing from the southwest later on Sunday afternoon.

Met Office forecast up to 30mm of rain in the affected areas, with up to 100mm of rain possible over the Mourne Mountains.