By Violet Brown
A GREYABBEY woman has spoken of her terror after she became trapped on the Portaferry Road during the height of Storm Bram on Tuesday evening.
Deborah Gunning was returning home from visiting her elderly mother in Newtownards when she became stranded for several hours along with around 30 other vehicles as the storm pushed already high tides onto the low-lying road.
At one stage Ms Gunning said she felt her car was almost floating and admitted ‘I have never been so scared’. The local woman has praised members of the emergency services, particularly the Coastguard, for coming to the aid of the stranded motorists and a bus full of schoolchildren who were also stranded.
Conditions on the A20 carriageway changed rapidly as the Portaferry Road was battered with wind and waves agitated by Storm Bram and exacerbated by the road being blocked by abandoned cars.
Specialist rescue teams from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) were joined by volunteers from Portaferry and Bangor Coastguard rescue teams to alleviate the situation and guide vehicles to safety.
When she initially got on to the Portaferry Road at Newtownards, Ms Gunning said there was rain and ‘a wee bit of waves’ on the road. Then conditions changed ‘out of the blue’ when she came round ‘the second or third bend’.
“There was hazardous flooding – I believe the water was about two or three feet deep”, she said. “I was on a bit of a hill and had to sit there for almost two hours until the high tide went out,” she said.
She said there were another 10 to 15 vehicles in front of her, and a bus had got stuck in a dip on the road as it couldn’t pass because of abandoned cars. Other vehicles, not realising the extent of the situation, were queuing up behind her.
“There was no warning – no nothing – and people were still coming round thinking it was ok to drive,” Ms Gunning said. “I have never seen anything like it in my life – the waves were crashing over, and throwing up debris including stones and bricks and there was seaweed everywhere.”
Describing the waves ‘as scary as anything’ she said the water was coming up over above her wheels and over the bonnet of her car. “Even though we were all stationary the cars were moving – it seemed like my car was floating on water and I thought my car would just go over into the water,” she said.
Ms Gunning, who was alone in her car, was on the phone in constant contact with her children. “My daughter offered to come and get me and I said you can’t,” she said.
The Greyabbey woman said the emergency services set about unblocking the road, and were concerned about the children on the bus.
She said the Coastguards were ‘brilliant’ as they walked up and down the road moving debris off the road and reassuring people who were stuck in their cars.
She explained how she was directed up the Cunningburn Road. “My legs were shaking and I was really nervous. But a coastguard officer sat in my car and said ‘I’ll get you through’ – he was fantastic”.
Barry Sands, a duty officer at the Fire and Rescue Service headquarters on Tuesday night, explained that at 5.20pm the specialist rescue team was deployed to assist colleagues in coastguard close to Newtownards sailing club.
“A number of vehicles who were unable to pass on the road, including a bus with approximately 30 pupils who were led to safety,” he explained. “Our safety specialist rescue teams, who are trained to work all sorts of conditions, identified safe passage along the road and directed vehicles back onto a safe part of road.
“To our knowledge there were no injuries and everybody led to safety before our crews left scene around 7.30pm,” Mr Sands said.
A Translink spokesperson highlighted how they safely carried thousands of pupils home on Tuesday during Storm Bram.
“The Portaferry Road was flooded as a result of the storm, causing a number of vehicles to break down further blocking the road, and a bus carrying pupils from Regent ,””, she continued. “When the road became passable, the bus was able to safely continue its journey.”
