Micky Doherty, a part-time farmer in Buncrana, lost 150 haylage bales during the floods on Tuesday night.

The bales, which were stacked three high, were washed down the River Crana in an event that evidently shook the farmer.

“My entire first cut silage, 150 bales, was washed down the river within 10 minutes. Seeing them wash away, that wasn’t easy. That was the hardest thing,” Doherty said.

“I will have to get rid of cattle. It may be the best option at this stage. If it comes to it, I will have to send them on,” he continued.

Doherty also told the Irish Farmers Journal that only for the support from his neighbour in letting him put cattle in his shed, things could have been worse.

“I put the cattle in around 6:30 into my shed, thinking they were safe, but they weren’t. Within a few hours they was 5ft of water in the yard and the shed was flooded. Only for my neighbour I would have been in bother,” he said.

Torrential rain in Donegal and Derry left the region counting the costs of Tuesday night’s floods.

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150 bales washed down the River Crana during floods

The bales were lost just after 9pm when flooding around a shed became more and more extensive.