Flooding task force holds meeting

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The first meeting of a task force set up after flooding in County Fermanagh has taken place in Enniskillen.

The Floods Task Force was set up by the Stormont Executive.

The floods, in November, caused major disruption in the county with families being cut off and bridges over the upper lough closed.

The task force will investigate factors which contributed to the flooding and consider how departments could help in dealing with the aftermath.

The meeting was attended by the ministers for regional development, environment and enterprise, as well the Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew, who said urgent action was needed.

Ms Gildernew said that daily life in Fermanagh was disrupted severely during the flooding.

She said there were "high expectations from people that we will deliver and we want to look at all of the issues".

"So there is nothing that we won't look at now in terms of trying to find a resolution to this," she said.

The meeting provided ministers with the opportunity to hear from local officials about the challenges they faced in dealing with the flooding as well as getting an update on the current position.

The ministers paid tribute to the people of Fermanagh for the way they responded as a community to help each other at a very difficult time.

They also would like to hear from those most affected by the floods and announced that evidence gathering meetings will be held in Fermanagh in early January 2010.

The group agreed a target date of the end of February 2010 for producing the first phase of its review.

The group consists of members of a number of government departments and will headed by the office of the first and deputy first ministers.

It will also examine lessons learned, longer term planning and preparations for possible future measures to minimise the impact of flooding.