House-building volunteer returns home to flood

A MOTHER and son had to flee their homes in Scariff last Friday after the harbour spilled approximately eight inches of water into their houses.

Gerry McNamara was in South Africa building houses as part of the Niall Mellon Township Trust, as his own house began to take on water last week.
While he was away, his mother, who lives next door to him in Derg View, had to leave her home as between seven to eight inches of water flooded it. Gerry’s house took on approximately four inches of water, destroying floors, carpets and new paintwork, as well as cutting off electricity.
He is currently working on clearing the house of water and is thankful that water levels seem to have dropped by about a foot in the last day or two.
“We are alright again now. Most of the water has been pumped out but my yard still has 14 to 15 inches of water. I had spent years building this house and we’ve had assessors out but we won’t know for a couple of months to what extent the damage is. My mother had concrete floors so that was some consolation, but carpets and lino have been ruined. She’s dying to get back in there now,” he said.
“The worst of it is the smell inside the house. We’ve had dehumidifiers in there and the boiler knocked out but I got that working again. We are without electricity and the furniture is destroyed. We had just had two rooms painted; we’re just sickened.
“I’ve been doing the Niall Mellon trip for seven years and while I was over there it was raining. When you see them over there taking out their wet beds, I have to think what we had is bad enough but what they have to go through doesn’t compare. So I’m really looking at it with that in mind.
“The Scariff Fire Brigade and the county council have been wonderful and there is a great community spirit. There were 40 people from our community out filling sandbags the last few days,” he said.
Meanwhile, four houses in Dooras, O’Callaghan’s Mills have been cut off for the last three weeks. Residents can only access their homes by boat and one family, the Moloneys, chose to leave their home as a result of the flooding.
Martina Moloney explained, “We have had to move out. We can get through to the house but only by boat and there is four and a half feet of water over the road, so it’s just not possible with the children. We’ve moved in with my sister now for the moment so there’s now five children living in that house, which isn’t ideal. They’re saying we won’t get back in there for a good while. We’ve had to move out of here before but it’s never been to this degree.
“Last year they rose the level of the road but it sank at one side again. It went so bad that none of the tractors can get through. Rory, my husband, had to go through the bog at one stage and the water came up to the top of his waders. I packed essentials when we left but we haven’t been able to get back in since”.
Meanwhile, Gerard Moloney and his 80-year-old mother have remained in their house in Dooras and Gerard has also been gaining access by boat.
Councillor Joe Cooney highlighted that this area of the ’Mills has flooded in previous years but access was always available by means of a tractor. In the current conditions, he outlined that Doon Lake has just spilled out onto the road, cutting these people off.
Locals estimate that in places six feet of water has crossed the road at Dooras, even though the council raised the level of the road by four feet recently.
Lough Graney burst its banks in Caher and all houses in the vicinity have had their homes sandbagged. Levels of flooding near the Graney have reached four feet in places and locals are being advised to avoid areas where road signs warn of flooding and to take alternative routes.
East Clare Councillors Pat Hayes and Joe Cooney have both called for the Government to re-look at EU directives restricting drainage works from being carried out and maintain that flooding in certain areas is as a result of poor drainage.
Councillor Cooney pointed out that flooding problems have worsened in recent days, particularly in areas of South-East Clare, which is being affected by the release of water from Parteen Weir.