Stranded woman rescued from flood

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A woman who was stranded in her home near Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, by rising floodwaters has been rescued.

The woman receives medical care at home, but could not be reached because the water was too deep for an ambulance.

She was rescued with the help of a police boat and Land Rover, and was then taken safely to an ambulance.

PSNI Chief Inspector Graham Dodds said he wanted to congratulate the emergency services on a "textbook rescue".

"This was the result of a lot of detailed planning between the emergency services, working with Erne Coastguard and Social Services.

"At one stage a rescue helicopter was on standby to attend, but we were able to manage without it.

"I want to commend my officers and the representatives of the fire service and ambulance service who worked in quite tricky conditions to make this rescue possible," he said.

<a class="" href="/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8377222.stm">Readers' pictures of flooding in County Fermanagh</a>

Many roads remain closed across the county because of recent flooding.

On Tuesday, engineers worked through the night to raise a road near Erneside Shopping Centre in Enniskillen.

The RNLI station at Carrybridge on Upper Lough Erne is also flooded, but Sam McCreery from RNLI said the station is still operational.

"We got all the electrical equipment raised above the water levels before it came in."

"We won't know if there's any permanent damage until the water level drops again, but we can still operate and if there is an emergency we're still fit to launch," he said.

The director of the Rivers Agency in the western region, David Porter, said the level of water Lough Erne had now exceeded Tuesday's record-breaking 158 feet.

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