Ulster Unionist councillor Carol Black, who has been trying to help the couple cope in the aftermath of the floods, said they were badly traumatised by their ordeal.

One of the two, she said, was recovering from recent surgery.

The couple live in the Lower Quilly Road area, where Fire and Rescue crews were on the scene during the height of the flooding.

Facing perhaps as much as six months out of their home, it is understood the couple are currently staying at a Banbridge hotel.

Speaking as the district council geared up for a major clean-up operation in Dromore town park, where at one point the children's playground was reportedly submerged under some three-four feet of water, an awestruck Councillor Black said she had never witnessed so much rain in so short a timespan. "On Sunday evening," she said, "I visited Dromore Park, where a crowd of people had gathered to see the incredible height of the River Lagan and the force of water flowing through.

"The devastation caused by the floods was absolutely awful, forcing local residents to move out of their homes and into nearby hotels."

The UUP councillor said the party's Dromore office was inundated with calls from anxious local residents in search of help.

She added her thanks to the district council's Environmental Health Department and other staff for their "excellent" work in the wake of the floods.

l For more on the aftermath of last week's floods turn to 18 & 19.