Alistair Hay and Kim Mahon Hay were on a day trip to the Marble Arch Caves in County Fermanagh on Sunday
Heavy rainfall across Northern Ireland caused major traffic disruptions and led to flash flooding in parts of County Fermanagh.
A woman and her partner on a day trip to the Marble Arch Caves were caught in a flood and said the rainfall came “heavy” and fast.
Some weather stations across Northern Ireland recorded their wettest July day on record on Sunday following an amber weather warning for heavy rain.
Kim Mahon Hay and her husband Alistair Hay believed the cave was the perfect place to shelter in the heavy rain, but soon learnt how serious it was as the entrance was impassable and the stairs out had “become waterfalls”.
Kim Mahon Hay said they were not expecting such heavy rain
“We had seen that it was going to be showery but we thought we’d dart in and out between things and we thought the caves would be perfect because if it does rain you’re in the caves out of the rain,” Ms Mahon Hay told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show.
“We definitely weren’t expecting the rain to come down as heavy as it did.”
Parts of Enniskillen flooded after heavy rain
She said they began their tour at 16:15 BST and half way through their tour guide’s radio started to receive messages about the “torrential rain up above”.
“Within minutes they started messaging to say the entrance in had become impassable and they were starting to send staff into the caves because the stairways then had become waterfalls,” Ms Mahon Hay said.
She added that the staff at the Marble Arch Caves were “absolutely amazing in dealing with the situation”.
Part of the main Enniskillen to Dublin Road was flooded on Sunday
The heavy rain caused major traffic disruption in parts of Northern Ireland on Monday.
The M12 carriageway in Craigavon, County Armagh, was closed due to flooding and there were long delays in the M1 direction on Monday morning, it has since re-opened.
On Sunday evening, some roads around Enniskillen were impassable and police urged motorists not to drive through flood water.
The Met Office’s amber rain warning – the second highest level of alert – ended at 08:00 BST on Monday but a yellow warning for counties Antrim, Down and Armagh continued until about 14:00 on Monday.
A drainage company worked to clear the flood water from the Dublin Road in Enniskillen
County Fermanagh woman Helen Dolan Murphy was travelling through Enniskillen on Sunday evening and told BBC News the flooding “was like something out of a film”.
“It was just really, really scary,” she said.
“I’m around a long time and I’ve never witnessed [flooding] to be this vast and happen so quick.”
She said her husband was driving them from their home in Belcoo to Enniskillen when “the heavens opened” about four miles from the town.
She said the force of the flood raised manholes off the ground and she saw staff from a butcher’s shop in Belmore Street mopping flood water out of their store.
There was a clean-up operation at Sligo Road in Enniskillen on Monday morning
Ms Dolan Murphy said they had to navigate back roads to return home.
“Fields looked like they were lakes, it was something I had never seen, how quick and how fast it happened,” she added.
“We live in a border town, so there were a lot of southern cars who might not know the back roads, quite well.
“We were quite relieved by the time we got home.”
Michelle Hannigan said Ninth Avenue on the Sligo Road had to close
Michelle Hannigan, from Ninth Avenue restaurant in Enniskillen, said it had to close after water got into the premises and affected one of the fridges.
“We came back this morning to clear up and check everything and were able to reopen,” she said.
Aaron Watkins said the street where he works was like a swimming pool
Aaron Watkins works in a paint store in Enniskillen, he described Sunday’s rain as “torrential”.
“We were getting messages and pictures from people of what potentially could happen, we were more worried about what we were going to face this morning coming into work.”
He added: “We have mixing machines were the last thing you want is for them to be soaked because they will just be fried.”
Mr Watkins said they were lucky nothing was badly damaged.
“The street looked like a swimming pool. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen this amount of rain covering this whole street.”
The M12 carriageway at Craigavon remains closed
Close to a month’s worth of rain has been recorded in parts of County Down in less than 12 hours.
Killowen, in the south of the county, saw 69mm of rain between 22:00 BST on Sunday and 10:00 BST on Monday.
The average amount of rain the weather station normally sees for the whole month of July is 80.7mm.
Killowen has also had its wettest July day on record and its third wettest day of any month, with records going back to 1997.
Murlough, County Down, also had its wettest July day on record with 61.2mm of rain.
Records there go back to 1968.
Water had gathered in the underpass at Blacks Road in Belfast on Monday morning
Orange alert for Republic of Ireland
A similar weather warning was issued in the Republic of Ireland for counties Dublin, Louth and Meath.
The Met Éireann (Irish meteorological service) status orange alert warned of persistent and heavy rain with a chance of thunderstorms.
It recorded 60mm of rain in Dundalk, County Louth, which is well above the July average for eastern counties.
The alert lasted until 14:00 local time on Monday.
