Glenelly Valley farmers receive 2.7m flood compensation

£2.7 MILLION in compensation has begun to be issued to farmers in the Glenelly Valley areas whose land was devastated by flooding and landslides in 2017, Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has announced.

In August 2017, farmland in the region was obliterated by Storm Lorenzo and a a long-running campaign for a relief package from landowners and local politicians followed.

The campaign was proved successful when at the end of last month, the Department announced they would provide £2.7 compensation for those worst affected.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the Department provided assistance to farmers on the ground in addition to the provision of £500,000 for remedial works by the Loughs Agency.

Minister Poots said: “Earlier this year I visited farmers in the North West whose farms were impacted by the flooding and landslides as a result of Storm Lorenzo.

He continued, “I heard about the challenges they faced at the time and the work required since then to restore land back to productivity.

“There is no doubt that it was a severely stressful time for those farmers, both financially and emotionally.

“As a result, I was very keen to provide some financial support to compensate for their loss of income and restoration costs.

“I subsequently announced, in July, that I had allocated funding to support farmers in the area and I’m pleased that 200 farmers in the North West will begin to receive payments from my Department this week.”