Tag Archives: storm damage

By Nicola Corless THE Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard has been left unable to launch after a high spring tide and stormy conditions washed boulders onto the slipway and into the channel used to get out to sea. Although the Doolin crew cannot launch, the Coast Guard helicopter and the unit on nearby Aran Islands are responding to calls. Mattie Shannon, station officer with the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard, stated, “The boulders have washed up again and all the gravel the council had put in, that has been washed away. That will all have to be redone because there is no access to the slipway currently and there are a couple of big boulders on the channel, so we couldn’t launch. “At the moment, conditions are rough but even if the sea calmed down, we still couldn’t launch because of the boulders in our path.” The coast guard is currently building a new station at …

By Nicola Corless FARMERS are calling on the OPW and Galway County Council to clear drainage channels leading from Kiltartan to the sea at Kinvara, as high water levels have left hundreds of acres of land flooded. According to Councillor Gerry Finnerty, “There are a number of houses and a number of farm sheds under threat”. “In the Tarmon, Cahermore, Ballylee, Peterswell, Ballinastague and Coole areas, there is very, very high ground water levels,” he explained. “Anywhere the small schemes have been done, like in Shanaglish, and with the clearing of the river in Gort, things have improved. They are very small schemes but they have been very effective. When you see the bigger picture though, when the water is going down from Gort to Kiltartan, acres and acres of land has been flooded in Kiltartan and Cahermore. The water is blocking the road at Cahermore and Ballinastague and that is only three miles as the crow flies from the …

CLARE County Council has estimated the total damage caused by Storm Christine in County Clare at €23,761,043 with Lahinch being the worst affected. At a specially convened meeting of Clare County Council on Friday, members were given an outline of a preliminary storm damage report, which estimated the total damage caused in Lahinch at €5,842,390. The next highest cost of repairs was in Kilbaha, estimated in the region of €3,423,950. Meanwhile, repairs at Cloughaninchy, Quilty are estimated at €2,581,250. Storm damage in New Quay amounted to approximately €1.854m, while the repair works necessary at Carrowdotia in Moneypoint are estimated at €1,115,400. Councillors viewed CCTV footage of the storm captured at Lahinch promenade. A contingency fund of €2,160,095 was also included in the preliminary report, and costs of non-coastal repairs were estimated in the region of €190,000.  Meanwhile, water services issues relating to the storm came to approximately €20,000. Senior engineer Tom Tiernan outlined in the report that the council also …

REPAIRS to public property along the Clare coast, caused by last weekend’s Storm Christine, is likely to cost millions of euro, according to Clare County Council’s senior engineer, Tom Tiernan. A preliminary estimate of the damage caused is expected to be announced at a specially convened council meeting on Friday. New Quay, Doolin, Lahinch, Liscannor, Seafield in Quilty, Doonbeg, parts of the Loop Head Peninsula, Carrigaholt, Kilbaha, Ross, Knock, Killimer, Kildysart and Ballynacally were the worst affected areas in the county. Many of the damaged coastal roads form part of the Wild Atlantic Way, a touring route stretching down the west coast, launched by Fáilte Ireland last year. “There has been a very serious roads component [to the damage] and not just a roads component but also a roads protection component. If you have a public road running along a coast, that infrastructure is very much exposed to the power of the sea and it requires some level of protection …

THE  possibility of accessing EU funding to help with the clean-up costs of storm damage in Ireland and other EU countries will be debated by MEPs during the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg next week, if a request made by Sean Kelly MEP is accepted. In the aftermath of the storm damage across Ireland , Mr Kelly today called on the EPP Group, the largest political grouping in the European Parliament to which Fine Gael is aligned, to support Ireland in the aftermath of the storm, and to table a debate on the matter next week. At a Group meeting in Brussels today, Mr Kelly urged the EPP members to support Ireland in accessing relief funding under the €1bn EU Solidarity Fund. The Ireland South MEP, who is this country’s  only full member of the Parliament’s Regional Development Committee which oversees the Solidarity Fund, is also due to meet the EU Regional Policy Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, on the matter. …

UPDATED 1pm, Friday, January 3: Lahinch Promenade is closed to the public because of damage caused by last night’s storm and fears further flooding could be in store tonight. Clare County Council has confirmed that Lahinch Promenade in County Clare will remain closed to the public until further notice after the Promenade walkways and seawall were “seriously comprised” during stormy weather overnight. Clare County Council says that Units of Clare Civil Defence and Clare County Fire and Rescue Service have been mobilised to deal with the incident and if required, other incidents throughout the county. The manager of Clare County Council and the county’s senior engineer were in Lahinch this morning assessing the damage to the prom and public amenities there. Further damage has been reported in Doolin, Spanish Point and Quilty. As well as infrastructural damage to car parks, roads and footpaths, homes and businesses were also affected. One local person described the damage at Lahinch as the worst …