:00:00. > :00:12.There's to be an urgent ministerial meeting tomorrow to discuss
:00:13. > :00:14.the authorities' response to the flooding.
:00:15. > :00:16.Taking part will be the Ministers for Agriculture,
:00:17. > :00:17.Regional Development and the Environment.
:00:18. > :00:20.It was organised as more heavy rain is predicted overnight,
:00:21. > :00:23.to add to the problems suffered by businesses and homes over
:00:24. > :00:28.Our reporter Mervyn Jess has been to Portadown tonight to see
:00:29. > :00:36.the latest efforts to protect homes there.
:00:37. > :00:43.Heavily saturated ground and existing high water levels are
:00:44. > :00:47.raising concerns over the projected rainfall overnight. In Portadown
:00:48. > :00:53.sandbags have been dropped off ready for use should the need arise. If
:00:54. > :00:59.this river overflows these pensioners's cottages Yarmouk stud
:01:00. > :01:05.risk. Sound bites are not much of a cure, I can tell you. They didn't
:01:06. > :01:10.stop getting in the last time. They had these pumps the last time. There
:01:11. > :01:17.is a bitter over there that runs into the River band. It does. It is
:01:18. > :01:25.still up, Lough Neagh is still up. There is nowhere for it to go.
:01:26. > :01:33.Nowhere. It flooded two years ago. It makes a mess of the house. You
:01:34. > :01:38.are afraid of that happening again. Water levels are already high with
:01:39. > :01:43.some roads closed to traffic. This latest health of heavy rainfall is
:01:44. > :01:46.sweeping in from the West and is already falling in County Fermanagh
:01:47. > :01:50.and County Armagh, but the bulk of that is not due until the early
:01:51. > :01:52.hours of the morning. The rivers agency said that flood squads are on
:01:53. > :01:55.stand-by to deal with emergencies. Flood-hit businesses on the shores
:01:56. > :01:58.of Lough Neagh have questioned whether enough was done
:01:59. > :02:00.to prevent rising waters. The level of the lough
:02:01. > :02:03.is at a 30-year-high and several business properties
:02:04. > :02:04.have been badly damaged Our environment correspondent,
:02:05. > :02:19.Conor Macauley, reports. The lough had reached record heights
:02:20. > :02:23.at the recent rain storms but the water has now reached the businesses
:02:24. > :02:28.on shore. They have been inundated putting 20 jobs here at risk. It is
:02:29. > :02:34.heartbreaking for everybody on the premises. We are small businesses,
:02:35. > :02:40.we put our livelihoods into it and it is heart-wrenching. In the
:02:41. > :02:46.interim, we are going to have to look of laying people off. I can't
:02:47. > :02:51.sustain wages going out. I still have to pay my rent, my rates, all
:02:52. > :02:55.the other overheads that go with running a business. People can come
:02:56. > :03:01.in through the shop door, there is no income. Lough Neagh is that a 30
:03:02. > :03:04.year high. Its level is controlled by these gates. Questions are being
:03:05. > :03:12.asked if they should've been open sooner. You need to ask the
:03:13. > :03:16.question, with the amount of water forecast, was of sufficient? It
:03:17. > :03:25.clearly wasn't. There are other reasons I'm sure whether floodgate,
:03:26. > :03:29.the level of the water... Baby people were caught by surprise. The
:03:30. > :03:36.agency responsible for regulating the level of the lough said they
:03:37. > :03:41.acted appropriately. 42% of the landmass of Northern Ireland drains
:03:42. > :03:46.into Lough Neagh. In situations where we have heavy rain across that
:03:47. > :03:50.catchment it is inevitable that we will get rising water and
:03:51. > :03:56.appropriated flooding. It is heartbreaking for the owners. Some
:03:57. > :04:00.of the decades, others just moved in Christmas. Some money has come from
:04:01. > :04:04.central government. The executive has been told to hurry up and decide
:04:05. > :04:09.how it will be spent. They want to know they will get any assistance,
:04:10. > :04:15.can they get any help to ensure that their business opens quickly. The
:04:16. > :04:20.money will be of little comfort to these business people. They can't
:04:21. > :04:22.even start to clear up until the level of the lough begins to fall.
:04:23. > :04:26.Good Morning Ulster on BBC Radio Ulster will be hearing
:04:27. > :04:29.more about how people are coping and talking to Stormont Ministers
:04:30. > :04:31.ahead of their flood response meeting tomorrow.
:04:32. > :04:34.A car has crashed through a sea wall on the Portaferry Road near Mount
:04:35. > :04:39.The vehicle ended up on the beach and one of two people
:04:40. > :04:42.Coastguard, ambulance and fire workers managed to free the person
:04:43. > :04:45.The accident happened near where a bus crashed
:04:46. > :04:50.through a wall into the sea four weeks ago.
:04:51. > :04:52.Gardai have warned that dissident republican paramilitaries
:04:53. > :04:53.are becoming increasingly skilled at making bombs.
:04:54. > :04:56.Officers today held a news conference and showed a sample
:04:57. > :05:08.Gardai today put on a display a selection weapons seized
:05:09. > :05:17.from dissident republicans over the last two years.
:05:18. > :05:22.Rocket launchers, rifles, Semtex and a beer keg bomb.
:05:23. > :05:28.That beer keg was ready for use in Northern Ireland.
:05:29. > :05:31.It was found within 300 or 400 metres of the border to take over
:05:32. > :05:39.the border to cause damage and potential injury and murder
:05:40. > :05:41.to people living in Northern Ireland.
:05:42. > :05:43.Although gardai say they have had significant success in disrupting
:05:44. > :05:46.attacks, there is concern that dissident republicans are becoming
:05:47. > :05:53.I can say with confidence that our interventions have,
:05:54. > :06:00.When you look at some of these devices and the way
:06:01. > :06:04.they are operated, it shows an increasing sign of sophistication
:06:05. > :06:12.I suppose the finding of such items such as detonators are indicative
:06:13. > :06:15.of the business that these people are in.
:06:16. > :06:20.22 people have been charged in connection
:06:21. > :06:27.The gardai today urged the public to be even more vigilant.
:06:28. > :06:29.The electricity supplier SSE is cutting its prices from next
:06:30. > :06:32.week, and bills from other energy suppliers are also set to fall.
:06:33. > :06:35.The Utility Regulator is reviewing electricity and gas tariffs
:06:36. > :06:37.and will make an announcement next month.
:06:38. > :06:39.I've been hearing more from our Economics and Business Editor,
:06:40. > :06:54.SSE, the second-biggest electricity supplier here are going to prices by
:06:55. > :06:59.just over 1% from Monday and that comes on top of an ape percent that
:07:00. > :07:03.they delivered last year. What is underpinning all of this is that
:07:04. > :07:09.wholesale energy prices, what is paid for energy on the world
:07:10. > :07:14.markets, is continuing to fall. Natural gas, for example, is down by
:07:15. > :07:19.20% compared to this time last year. What about the other suppliers? The
:07:20. > :07:25.Utility Regulator, which has the power to influence prices amongst
:07:26. > :07:28.the biggest suppliers, they are undertaking a review that will
:07:29. > :07:32.report next month. Because those prices are coming down globally,
:07:33. > :07:38.they will come down locally as well. It is the job of the regulator to
:07:39. > :07:46.make sure that the prices we pay reflect the wholesaler price. We
:07:47. > :07:55.would expect him to's prices to come down quite substantially. --
:07:56. > :08:03.PowerNI's prices to come down. What we will continue to see is energy
:08:04. > :08:06.prices are still coming down. The Department for Education is
:08:07. > :08:19.facing a cash reduction over the next year. The Minister said that
:08:20. > :08:20.the full impact on school budgets would not be clear until March.
:08:21. > :08:24.It's going to be very wet again tonight.
:08:25. > :08:29.With the forecast, here's Geoff Maskell.
:08:30. > :08:36.The rain is back with a vengeance tonight. We are expecting up to 40
:08:37. > :08:40.millimetres of rain. A weather warning is in place. It will take
:08:41. > :08:45.six to nine hours for that room to clear us. Although the rainfall
:08:46. > :08:50.totals are not huge, given the very wet ground that we have a moment it
:08:51. > :08:54.could cause localised flooding. That ban the brain were polite to the
:08:55. > :08:59.East in the early part of the morning. Behind it we have clearing
:09:00. > :09:04.skies. There is a risk of some icy patches on untreated roads in the
:09:05. > :09:07.early part of Thursday. We are by no means getting the worst of the
:09:08. > :09:11.weather, that is reserved for the northern part of Scotland where they
:09:12. > :09:15.have an amber warning in place because of strong winds and snow.
:09:16. > :09:18.The further south you go the drier and brighter it gets. Through the
:09:19. > :09:23.afternoon tomorrow, not a bad picture in Northern Ireland. Recent
:09:24. > :09:29.spells of drier weather. It will feel cooler temperatures and low
:09:30. > :09:34.single figures. Have really cold night Thursday into Friday with the
:09:35. > :09:39.widespread frost by Friday morning. Fried itself a reasonably pleasant
:09:40. > :09:43.day. Between the odd shower some of those wintry over them on mountains
:09:44. > :09:49.in particular, it will be at full day, but also brighter. The general
:09:50. > :09:51.theme of the downward trend in temperatures continues as we head
:09:52. > :09:57.Our next BBC Newsline is at 6.25am in the morning during Breakfast