Retro - brief video shows 1993 flood at Drumahoe

At the start of this month, Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon confirmed that 28 properties in the city have applied to her department’s Homeowner Flood Protection Grant Scheme (HFPGS).

The scheme, she explained, is specifically aimed to encourage the owners of residential properties, which meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria, to modify their properties to make them more resistant to flooding.

The scheme was set up in 2016, one year before catastrophic floods devastated homes across Derry in August 2017. It is aimed at properties that have flooded in the past and continue to be exposed to frequent flooding. The scheme covers 90% of costs, up to a maximum of £10,000 of the total survey and estimated installation. Homeowners must make a contribution of 10% of the survey and estimated installation costs, and any additional cost above £10,000.

The 2017 floods caused serious flooding in the Drumahoe and Eglinton areas. Drumahoe of course has been prone to flooding over the past few decades, and a reader has sent us this brief video, showing the strength of the water surging underneath Drumahoe bridge during a flood in 1993, and the flooded YMCA playing pitches.