FERMANAGH – The forgotten county? Weather conditions may be an ‘inconvenience’ for most, but for a minority out there, the impact of recent floods has caused serious destruction to farm lands, damage to property, a threat to livestock and a question over whether or not hard-earned businesses can remain sustainable?
Local farmer, Ross McVitty, voiced his concerns to the Herald, “At the moment it’s very difficult to get in and out of where I live without using a tractor.
“I can’t get livestock out, the water is 5ft deep in some places, livestock panic and become extremely distressed with water flowing into the trailer. The stress is overwhelming. It’s costing me a fortune, I’m spending an extra £2,000 on meal each week because usually this time of year livestock is gone to the abattoir.”
Despite this, Mr McVitty is faced with a larger problem of getting meal in and out of town for his animals, “It’s difficult getting out to pick up the bags of meal, which requires dragging a trailer through the water back and forth. I can’t access heating oil for my own home, I have to travel into town with drums, even collecting basic essentials like groceries is difficult.”
He continued, “One of my fields is just a complete right-off. We had bad flooding a few years back and the water lay for about two months. The ground had to be repaired and the cost for me to do it was around £20,000. Those who have the ability to change this just don’t seem to care in my opinion.”
When asked for a possible solution, Ross said, “There needs to be better upkeep, the water just can’t get away quick enough because some areas haven’t been drenched in the last 40 years. There is a build-up of broken trees, rubbish etc. and it can’t get away if rain falls, the water is coming up the drain pipes and into the fields. Everytime we complain, all we get is a sign up, making people aware of the floods but this just isn’t good enough.”
He continued, “Issues regarding floods runs deeper for some people. I can’t get slurry out, so this will set me back at least six weeks already. If weather conditions continue, and the ground doesn’t get time to recover, I’ll have to cut-down on livestock. We’ve fallen on deaf ears, Fermanagh is just a forgotten county, but we’re taking constant hits just to bail other counties out. I’m paying £2,000 rates just to get two bins emptied, yet nothing is being done about my road being flooded?” For the last two weeks or so I can’t go anywhere if it’s not on a tractor. What if we need to go to the doctors? Or there is an emergency? We have been promised the moon and the stars but they haven’t done anything at all.”
Meanwhile local councillor Victor Warrington, warned that “not enough” has been done over the years by water services and the DFI (Department for Infrastructure) to control flood damage in rural areas. “It’s like banging your head against a brick wall. Departments are looking at this from the respect that if it was an urban area and more people were affected it would have been sorted a long time ago”.
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