Three generations of the one family, ranging in age from 14 to 87 years, were airlifted from their home in Beagh in the early hours of Friday morning.

Water flooded the roads around the home of Gort businessman Hughie O’Donnell, before it began to rise at an unprecedented rate on Thursday night, flowing into his home.
“We were watching the water coming in and we weren’t expecting it to rise. Why would we think that what never happened before was going to happen then? We expected the water to stop rising but eventually we had to ring for help,” Hughie explained.
“The water started coming in around 10pm but we didn’t contact the authorities until around 12 because we were expecting the water to stop rising and to recede.
“We didn’t call them at six inches but when it reached a very high stage, up to the top of my wellies, around a foot or a foot and a half high I suppose, we decided that we needed to get out,” he recalled.
Hughie’s 87-year-old mother Mary, his wife Kathleen and his teenage children, Oisin, 15, and 14-year-old Suzanne were in the house with him at the time.
The house was unreachable by road because of high water and by boat due to strong currents, so the crew of the Shannon Rescue Helicopter winched the family to safety. They landed at the Kilbeacanty hurling pitch and were brought from there to Gort.
“We were lucky to get out when we did because the water rose to several feet inside the house after that,” Hughie remembered.
“There was a black car and a white car parked outside the house in a place we thought was safe. One was within inches of being covered completely and the other totally covered,” he claimed.
“We are all alive and well, thanks be to God for that. We are under pressure since, though. I went back to the house afterwards and it is still flooded and all our feed for our cattle is lost. There is incredible damage done to me,” he stated.
Hughie had an abattoir close to his house in Beagh. This too has been affected by the water.
“The house is flooded now, so is the abattoir. The thing about your house is that you are years building up the bits and pieces you have… With all the devastation, I’m thankful that no one lost their life,” Hughie told The Clare Champion.
“I was looking at the house and looking at the situation now. Once this sort of thing happens once, it could reoccur. With that in mind I have some tough decisions to make. You heart wants to go back into your house but your brain says not to, so what do you do?” he concluded.