Authorities in the North came under fire today for its response to flash floods which wreaked havoc overnight.
Mr Jack Patterson, the mayor of Newry, said emergency provisions to deal with flooding had not been sufficient to cope.
As the clean-up operation got under way today, the UK Met Office issued a fresh severe weather warning to drivers across Northern Ireland.
The south Down area was particularly affected by torrents of rain last night, while counties Armagh and Tyrone were also badly hit. Heavy rain was experienced in the Republic also, but not to the same extent.
The Newry area suffered 70 mm of rainfall, the annual average for the entire month of July.
Fire crews were called to Daisy Hill Hospital in the city amid fears of flooding on the site, while in Rathfriland a motorist was rescued after being trapped by the downpour.
Residents in a number of homes across Newry and Rathfriland had to be evacuated from their homes as the freak floods wreaked havoc. Severe flooding was also reported in Castlewellan and Newcastle.
Mr Patterson said the authorities had learned "absolutely nothing" from the last flooding situation which happened in the spring.
"This is a regular occasion, these are flash floodings okay, but we are having them in the spring, winter, autumn and now in mid summer," the independent councillor said.
"I am a very frustrated and angry person because I tried last night for 40 minutes to get through to a so-called emergency number and then when you get through to that number, you're told that they'll put it in the system and you'd have to wait."
Mr Patterson said there were flooding problems across Newry city, with drains overflowing.
"The people I'm angry with are the principal officers of the Water Service and the department who make these decisions, who have learned absolutely nothing as to how to deal with emergency situations," he added.
Mr Kevin Monaghan of Roads Service, which is responsible for keeping roads open and unblocking drainage systems, said the sheer volume of water overwhelmed the system.
"It's quite obvious that our systems are built to cope with what we would expect as reasonable and normal levels of rainfall and whenever the area would suffer exceptional rainfall, quite clearly it's going to put the systems under pressure," he added.
Sinn Fein councillor for Newry and Armagh, Mr Pat McGinn said a wall at the National Trust property Derrymore House had collapsed because of the deluge.
PA