Plumbridge Mart in Co Tyrone was severely damaged by the floods which hit the northern half of the country earlier in the week.

Water rose as high as 8ft in the mart, according to mart manager Alan Patterson, when the flood waters began to rise during a sheep sale which was taking place in the mart on Tuesday evening.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Patterson described the ordeal. “We had a sheep sale on in the mart when the flood waters began rising. Farmers were all on the premise when water on the floor started to rise and rise. At that point, we had to get all the sheep and cars off the premise and moved away,” he said.

Timely evacuation

The evacuation was done so timely. Flood waters rapidly rose and by 10pm, the mart canteen, a 20ft porter cabin on stilts, was uplifted by the flood and washed downstream.

“At about 10pm that night, a neighbour called me and told me that the canteen was being taken by the flood,” he explained.

“I went down and looked on from a distance and saw the canteen being lifted up by the floods and then disappeared on beyond the bank. It was ripped apart. It is now spread all over the river,” he said.

“That was tough to see. We put a lot of work into the canteen here. To see it uplifted and taken away by the flood was difficult,” he continued.

The place was like a bombsite

“The next morning, I came down to see the damage. The place was like a bombsite. The single story roof was smashed by trees. There was 8in of muck around the ring and on the floor. All the electricity was gone and the mart need rewiring,” he lamented.

The flood water rose so high, trees were left on the roof of the mart.

With the mart entering its busiest period with sheep sales ongoing and calf sales coming up, a major cleanup is under way.

“Local volunteers were in here all day Wednesday cleaning up. Amazingly, we able to have a sale on Thursday such was the effort. Albeit, the mart isn’t in full operation yet,” he explained.

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