ON the night the Water Wall gave way, lifeguard and assistant at Riversdale Leisure Centre Barry Toorish lived in Alexander Place, just 100 yards from the point where the first collapse took place.
He recently penned his memories of that night, the rescue mission to which he was central and the aftermath. It was a night Barry, like many Strabane residents, still recalls vividly.
He recalled: "As children, many a year we would put our hands over the water wall and feel the high water; never of course expecting it to give way. Although the wall was old and parts were crumbling, we had all become complacent. This was despite the fact that water could often be seen permeating from the small holes that punctuated different parts of the wall. Ironically, two years before the flood the Water Service carried 'sticking plaster' repairs on the exact spot where the wall was to eventually burst. In later years I would kayak the same piece of water, never of course realising that it would cause so much destruction to so many people in years to come," he explained.
"On the night of the flood in '87, myself and several friends had just returned to my home after having a few drinks up the town. I can recall very well Joan Houston telling me the wall had gave way . I looked out the front door and can vividly recall seeing a tide of water gushing into the entrance of Alexander Place.
"Within less than a minute my home and all of my neighbours were filling with polluted water from the river. Within about 10 minutes the water had reached depths of four to five feet. Cars were completely submerged.
"Through out the night I assisted the many other volunteers in a reassurance and rescue operation. I did this out of a feeling of necessity and loyalty towards my neighbours in the Foot of The Town, many of whom were in their elder years. "As I waded through the water with a friend at the time we encountered two police officers with a small Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB).
We were able to view the totality of the flood. All of lower Main Street was flooded as was Riverside Terrace, Eden Terrace, the Railway Road, Castle Street, Castle Place, parts of Abercorn Square and the Bridge End.
"The high water of the flood lasted well into the Thursday of the 22 October and began to recede by the late afternoon," Barry explained.
Commenting on the aftermath of the 1987 devastation, he recalled: "The flood of '87 left major destruction in the afterrmath. In the small locality where I lived, only three residents had home insurance. Everyone else relied on the few hundred pounds of emergency loan payments from the Social Service Agency to try and get their lives back together.
'The most notable experience for me however is the way in which so many people came together. It was a shining example of community spirit that is the bedrock of Strabane and to which people of the town should still be immensely proud of." he said.
