Emergency services in the North are on standby for more rain today after flash flooding yesterday forced the rescue of nearly 40 people.
After an emergency meeting at Stormont, ministers confirmed 22 people in Belfast and 15 in Omagh had to be rescued from their homes and cars as firefighters dealt with 400 emergency calls.
Devolved ministers agreed to look at concerns about how agencies responded to flooding in south and east Belfast, Co Tyrone, the north-west of the North and Ballymena as two inches of rain fell in two hours.
Peter Robinson
Finance minister Peter Robinson also announced a ministerial statement will be made in the Assembly next week. But he also acknowledged that the two inches of rainfall was exceptional, placing the water and sewerage system in Belfast and other towns under pressure.
"These were exceptional circumstances," said the Democratic Unionist Party MP, whose East Belfast constituency was badly affected.
"Clearly there a number of areas as a constituency representative where I have heard from people about the inadequacy of some of the responses and those are the kind of issues we will look at where improvements can be made in the future."
The emergency meeting, which was chaired by Mr Robinson in the absence of First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, involved ministers from all four parties that make up the Executive.
Regional development minister Conor Murphy was joined by environment minister Arlene Foster, social development minister Margaret Ritchie, agriculture minister Michelle Gildernew and health minister Michael McGimpsey. Junior ministers Gerry Kelly and Ian Paisley Junior also attended.
Last night, Ms Ritchie visited homes in East Belfast affected by the flooding and there are plans for her to travel to Omagh today. The Executive also announced it intends to release a number of emergency phone numbers to help people whose homes had been damaged in the floods, which caused severe traffic disruption in Belfast yesterday afternoon and elsewhere.
Water levels in rivers in east Belfast were recorded yesterday at 2ft above their highest levels in 23 years. There were more than 2,000 calls received by the new government-owned company Northern Ireland Water.
The Executive paid tribute to the work of emergency services staff including the Fire and Rescue Service, NI Water, the Roads Service, Rivers Agency, Housing Executive, Social Services, Social Security Agency and district councils as well as the voluntary and community sector.
Mr Robinson said all agencies were on standby for more rain. "All the emergency services are on standby and will remain on standby as long as the Met Office believes there is a potential for rain," he said.
"I have to point out to you the infrastructure we have in Northern Ireland is the same as the infrastructure elsewhere in the world. "It could not cope with the kind of intensity of downpour that there was yesterday.
"We cannot stop the rain coming. We cannot change overnight the infrastructure that is there, but there is a very considerable plan down to improve our infrastructure.
"What we have to do is be able to respond to the emergencies which arise from it. That is a test of a government."
Following today's meeting, ministers expect to receive a further update on the flooding situation later in the day before preparing their own report for next week's cabinet meeting.