Freak weather causes chaos in Londonderry

Roads Service was working to reopen the main road between Londonderry and Belfast after 300 people were trapped in heavy snow on Tuesday night.

Police said the road was likely to remain closed until lunchtime, and advised motorists not to try to get onto Glenshane from side-roads.

A group of schoolchildren rescued from the road were taken to Dungiven Leisure Centre and then to Limavady and Maghera after a power cut.

48,000 homes were left without electricity across Northern Ireland.

Jackie O'Hagan, one of those rescued, described the experience as being akin to "Armageddon".

"The efforts from the mountain rescue teams, the police and people have been great," she added.

Yesterday extreme weather warnings issued by the Met Office suggested rain and snow was likely to batter Londonderry again today although conditions were much improved on Wednesday morning.

Heavy rains lashed the North West over the past two days prompting the Met Office to issue a flash warning of rainfall of up to 20 and 30mm across Londonderry and Tyrone yesterday.

On higher ground snow lay as deep as 10cm above 150m, and 25cm or more above 300m.

The public were advised to take extra care and refer to the NI Rivers Agency for further advice on flooding, and also to TrafficWatchNI.com (operational hours 07.00 to 21.00 Mon to Fri and 09.00 to17.00 on Saturdays) for further advice on road conditions.