A week after torrential rainfall changed the lives of a generation of Inishowen people forever, the smallest seeds of change are taking root.
While the lives of many remain up in the air, some are trying to move on as best they can.
Liam Hegarty says he is one of the lucky ones.
Liam, from the Lios Na Greine estate in Burnfoot, yesterday locked the door on the place he has called home for the past 12 years.
He is lucky that himself, his wife Samantha and three young children are able to move into his mother’s home nearby in Burnfoot as she spends several months living abroad.
He is waiting to hear from his insurance company about getting compensation to renovate his home after being forced to leave it.
A week ago he stood up to his knees in water as the wooden floor in his hallway floated past him and onto his front driveway.
Yesterday, all that was left downstairs was a shell as Liam pulled out everything including his kitchen.
He paid tribute to the council and to the army for helping him get it back to some normality.
“I have been unlucky but I know I’m lucky to in that I’m not o the streets. The council have been very supportive with skips and setting rodent traps as well as sanitising the house.
“I had three lads in from the army who did trojan work and I have to thank them.
“I have been able to shut the door behind me and hopefully I will get the insurance sorted and we will start again,” he said.
However Liam said he was dreading the prospect of another torrential downpour and high tide locally.
“I could have a really nice house again in six months time with a new kitchen and fresh paint but who is to say it will not be destroyed again?
“I have already been looking online to get specialist doors in future which might stop the floods coming in but whose to say it won’t come through the windows,” he added.
Meanwhile, Donegal County Council has moved to stave off the threat of disease and rodent infestation in the light of last week’s flooding across the Inishowen Peninsula.
Specialist teams of workers are visiting a number of housing estates in a number of towns including Burnfoot, Buncrana and Carndonagh left devastated by the flooding.
Dozens of families have been forced to flee homes because they were inhabitable and have been sorted with emergency accommodation.
For many, it may be months before they are able to return to their homes.
Donegal County Council’s environmental teams have been on the ground assessing the damage to homes in the wake of the floods in an effort to secure them.
As well as setting rodent traps, homes have been sanitised.
The HSE has also issued leaflets advising people how to cope physically and mentally in the aftermath of the floods.
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein Deputy Leader, visited Inishowen yesterday to see the devastation first hand herself.
She said the Government need to press ahead with their plan of action for the ravaged region.
“It is just an unbelievable catastrophe that is unfolding. I have spoken to residents and it so difficult for people to lose their home and so many possessions and to get small children back to school and to sort all that.
“When I saw these things unfolding I was gobsmacked. It is a devastating thing. This is a moment when we need strong solidarity and we need to be clear that these people need ongoing support from the Government and it’s our job to ensure that no family, farm or business is left behind,” she said.
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