The ground floor of Tommy O'Hagan's terrace home turned into a murky swimming pool as he, his wife and three children watched in horror.
They had fought the floods with make-shift sandbags but in the end were powerless to stop the water gushing into their home.
"At one stage it was almost waist deep. It was frightening how quickly the water rose," said Tommy, who first sensed trouble when he arrived home from work late on Saturday afternoon.
"I noticed the water rising up around a neighbour's car, so I left my car on higher ground and went to warn the neighbours," he added.
"We tried to phone to get sandbags, but the response from emergency services was pretty poor. I kept trying to phone the emergency water number, but all I got was music to listen to. In the end, I gave up."
One of Tommy's neighbours had a pile of sand left over from a building project, so the residents set about filling black bin bags with the sand in a vain attempt to keep the flood water at bay.
"Eventually, a fire engine arrived and they started pumping out the water, but they were fighting a losing battle," said Tommy.
The flood water caused extensive damage to the O'Hagans' kitchen, dining room, hall and living room. Carpets were ruined and most of the furniture will have to be dumped.
Although most of the items can be replaced with the help of an insurance pay-out, one of the couple's most precious possessions - their wedding album - is simply irreplaceable.
"The album is completely ruined and as it is almost 20 years old, there's not much chance that the photographer still has the negatives," lamented Tommy.
However, the family are upbeat as they bring in dehumidifiers and set about the clean-up process.
"We might be able to salvage our dining room table and part of the kitchen. Apart from that, it's just a case of redecorating," said Tommy.
"We are very lucky in that there is good community spirit here. Everybody helped out on Saturday."
While the O'Hagan family have lived in their Shore Road home for over 18 years, another resident affected by the flooding, Leigh Whittley, has owned his semi-detached house for less than a year.
Leigh, who has only recently completed a major renovation project on the property, returned home from a trip to Germany on Saturday to find his partner battling to save their furniture.
"A new wall at a building site across the road has collapsed and the Shore Road was like a river at one stage," he explained.
"There was water everywhere and we even tried to use clothes to keep it out. There seemed to be no help on the phone and a total lack of communication between the emergency services.
"Eventually, the police closed off the road but even then, people drove through the cordon and just made things worse.
"Although we have quite a lot of water damage on the ground floor, there are neighbours who are a lot worse off.
"Fortunately, there was a good community spirit."