The rain came down, and the floods came up … but were cleared overnight

Regular visitors to AiB will know that I’ve an unhealthy fascination with a stretch of road around the back of the Waterfront Hall. The road’s officially called Mays Meadow. And it was most likely a very damp meadow, given the proximity of the River Lagan and the fact that the road still floods every couple of months when the nearby water pumping station gets overloaded and gives up.

Last night, they closed the road under the bridge due to severe flooding. Normally it takes a day or two to get the water service (or their contractor) out to pump away the excess surface water and someone to fix the pumping station.

But this time it magically disappeared overnight. That’s never happened before.

But then there’s not normally an international police conference called Policing the Future being held in the Waterfront Hall, some of whose delegates may still be a little nervous about coming to Northern Ireland and desire a couple of escape routes back to the nearest airport!