AN ELDERLY Milford couple have been left devastated as flash flooding washed into their home at Lower Mount Marian earlier this week, pouring further upset on what has already been a difficult time for them.
Having lived in the house for the last 40 years Francie and Sophie McAteer have seen this flooding many times but this week's torrential rain literally saw much of their newly renovated house washed away.
Only last week the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, but a matter of days later, Sophie's only sister, Mary, passed away suddenly.
They are now in Dublin with their daughter Philomena and will stay there for the foreseeable future as their home is uninhabitable. Speaking to the Donegal News this week, the couple's daughter Margaret, explained: "My mother had only come back from the Diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes when June 4th my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
They had the whole house done up because all of their six children, grandchildren and other relatives were coming back for the celebrations. They were so proud of the house and just had new wooden floors put down."
But after such a happy few days, Mrs McAteer had gone to Dublin for her grandchild's party when she received the news that her sister Mary had passed away in Letterkenny.
"My mother and her sister were so close, Mary was even the bridesmaid when my mother got married," explained Margaret.
She continued: "My mother is wheelchair-bound and it is not very easy for her to travel so the funeral did not take place until Monday."
On Tuesday of this week Mr and Mrs McAteer were planning on travelling back to Dublin for a few days and had their suitcases packed. "My mother had just gone to bed for a rest before they left when the rain started at about 11 o'clock.
"The water just started pouring in the side door from nowhere. It must have rained for an hour and a half without stopping my father had to take off his shoes because the water was coming in so quickly. My mother was terrified, she was lying in bed and she though she was going to be drowned. Her first instinct was to ring Harry Blaney who is a very good friend of hers and I have to thank Cllr Liam Blaney who had council workers there within minutes.
"But this is not the first time this flooding has happened. The house next door was also badly damaged."
"It was terrible to watch everything that my parents had put so much pride into literally being destroyed before our eyes. And the worst thing for them is that the renovations were not insured."
Margaret continued: "The water did so much damage to everything from furniture to my mother's shoes.
"The only shop in Milford which sells shoes is Centra and I couldn't get her a new pair because it was closed also as their roof had been washed down."
"This is now in the hands of the Council. My parents aren't looking for distress money, they're just looking for their floors back. And we're not looking to blame anybody because we have confidence in the good-will of the Council."
