Flooding fear for Tulla residents

Residents in Tulla are becoming increasingly concerned their houses could suffer from a reoccurrence of serious flooding during heavy rainfall, a local councillor has warned.
Councillor Joe Cooney said a plan to prevent flooding at the Pound Cross in Tulla was prepared by Clare County Council a few years ago. However, in spite of regular representations from county councillors, Councillor Cooney claimed that no major developments had taken place to improve the situation because of a lack of funding since then.
The Killaloe Electoral Area chairman claimed that there was extra water coming from a local road into Pound Cross, which was causing a lot of concern in the locality because of the lack of adequate drainage capacity.
Having highlighted the importance of securing funding over a year ago, he said that this issue needed to be resolved to allay locals’ fears of a repeat of flooding, which had taken place in recent years.
Describing this problem as an “ongoing issue”, Councillor Hayes claimed the problem was being caused because the proper infrastructure wasn’t put into place due to the substantial cost.
He claimed a lot of houses in the area were low-lying and felt the council shouldn’t be seen to be adding to the problem by allowing extra water from the Doonane Road to be included in the network.
Senior executive engineer, Seán Lenihan told the meeting the Pound Cross area was affected by flooding a few years ago when sewers backed up due to heavy rainfall.
Mr Lenihan recalled a plan to widen the existing water course by providing a three-foot pipe costing an estimated €150,000 was prepared in 2007 and acknowledged water from the Doonane Road had to be drained within the existing network in the absence of receiving the necessary funding to upgrade the drainage system.
He confirmed the county council routinely maintain the existing watercourses at this location to ensure free flow of storm waters arising.  However, he admitted the permanent and optimum solution at this location was the installation of a new storm drainage network from the Pound Cross and along the regional road and from a suitable location there, outfalling to the local watercourse.
“Councillors will be aware, I sought funding for these works previously but was unsuccessful. Currently, there is no funding available to carry out storm drainage works in Tulla. However, the situation at this location will be monitored on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Councillor Cooney proposed that another application should be made for funding, as residents were very concerned their premises could again be subjected to flooding.