Floodwatch + Pouring Money Down the Drain

Every few months, at the back of the Waterfront Hall, Mays Meadow floods underneath the railway bridge.

And so it was that yesterday morning wise drivers were doing a U-turn, and the more crazy souls took a bet on getting their expensive cars through to the far side with out stopping half way. The photos are new, honest - it just looks like the last time it flooded in June.

It needs rain - but not a lot. And it looks like a homage to the mightier River Lagan that flows only a couple of metres away. It could well be the River Lagan seeping through the bank and into the drains. I dread to think.


By last night the DOE had turned up, and by this morning they’d pumped about half of it away.

While not that exciting, it is indicative of the wider problems facing Belfast's drains. Pockets of streets across Belfast experience flooding in the same places year after year. Good news then that a £100m contract to replace the main sewers in Belfast has recently been awarded. The boringly-named Belfast Sewers (Tunnel) Project will construct a 13ft wide, six mile long tunnel underneath the city - subsidence better not be the next problem! It's a lot of money to pour down the drain.

Previous floodwatch back in June:

• Belfast heatwave = Belfast road floods
• The great flood - day two
• The Flood Returns - day four