Counting the cost of serious flooding

HEAVY rain and flooding caused tens of thousands of euro worth of damage to homes and business in Clare and South Galway this week. A number of motorists abandoned their cars unable to continue their journeys after driving into water on roads across the county on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Crowe Street in Gort on the main N18 between Galway and Limerick was particularly badly affected. The street was closed for a time on Tuesday night but reopened early on Wednesday. Water on the street reached nearly a foot at times before Frank Dillon Civil Engineering, a company currently working on laying the gas main in the town, began pumping it out.
Local businessman Mike Finn of Finn’s Furniture on Crowe Street arrived at work on Wednesday morning to find most of his premises under between six inches and a foot of water. Mike estimates water damage could cost him in excess of €50,000.
“I have €20,000 worth of furniture damage. I have 4,000 square feet of the shop under water at the moment. In previous years, the water came in a small bit but this is the worst ever. I have no insurance for flooding because no company will insure me because of a previous flooding experience,” he explained.
“There is structural damage too and that could add up to another €30,000. I have to pay for carpets and repairs and that isn’t even taking into account the loss of business.
My shop was closed down all day on Wednesday. It was closed on Tuesday too and it looks like it will be closed tomorrow. No-one from Galway County Council came to my door and assessed my problem, I didn’t even get a phone call,” he added.
On Wednesday morning at St Brigid’s Well in Liscannor, publicans Michael and Theresa Murphy woke to discover the kitchen of their home as well as their pub had been flooded overnight.
“The water was in all around the bar and the kitchen and the back kitchen this morning. It was coming in from the well. A lot of the water had gone down the drains in the toilets but we had to brush the rest out the door and I spent the day trying to clean up and dry it out. We are lucky not to have wooden floors or carpets, there is a lot to be said for tiles. This has never happened before and I hope it never happens again,” Theresa stated. By evening, the water at the back of the pub was again beginning to rise.
Outside Ballyvaughan on the Coast Road, Karen McDonnell returned from college in Galway on Wednesday afternoon to find water flowing from behind her home, around the house and onto the main road.
“I left home at 6.30am and there was no water in my gardens. By mid-afternoon, the water was over the top of the first step at the back of the house. My house is effectively an island. There is water all around it. The back garden is like a lake with a small river running through it. It is coming from the back of my house, flowing around the side and running out the front gate onto the public road,” Karen told The Clare Champion.
“Because the back garden is under water and the drains are under pressure if you flush the toilet, the water will come up instead of going down. I can’t flush the toilet. I can’t use water,” she explained.
“The worry is awful. It doesn’t go away. This has happened a few times over the past year. Every time it rains severely, I worry. I have been waiting for this to happen for the past month,” she concluded.
Gardaí are warning motorists to take extra caution when driving and to avoid unnecessary journeys over the coming days as further rain is expected. 
“The flooding is a problem around the county. We are asking people to slow down and turn on their lights. We are reminding people to expect the unexpected with regard to flooding and debris from high winds. We want people to realise that visibility is much lower during this weather and people should be aware that surface water on roads can cause aquaplaning which can make cars skid. People should use this time of year to have their tyres checked and replaced where necessary. The general advice to people is not to make unnecessary journeys at times of adverse weather,” said Inspector John Galvin of Ennis Garda Station.
Council offices around the county took a huge number of calls on Wednesday in relation to flooding and according to Clare County Council, Ennis Area Engineer Liam Murphy, local-authority workers are doing their best to deal with the problems.
“Staff have been out all day trying to get things sorted and responding to calls. We took a lot of calls and are trying to prioritise things as best we can,” he explained on Wednesday evening.
One of the reasons for the road flooding is that water can’t escape because of blocked drains.
“The ground is saturated and can’t absorb any more water so there is a lot of run-off. This is compounded by high winds and foliage falling causing blockages in the gullies,” he continued.
Rainfall on Tuesday night reached half an inch at Shannon Airport while at the Met Éireann Automatic Station at Mace Head in Galway, 20mm of rain fell between 6pm on Tuesday and 6am on Wednesday.
“A lot of the problems that are happening with regard to flooding are due to the amount of rain we had and the ground saturation at the time. The fact there was so much ground water at the time meant it wasn’t capable of soaking it up,” a spokesperson for Met Éireann stated.
Met Éireann predicts further heavy rain on Thursday and over the weekend.