North Clare man raises issue of ‘dangerous’ road flooding

A North Clare resident described flooding on a stretch of road outside his home as “dangerous” and called on the local authority to address the issue.
David Spencer, and his wife Joan, have lived at Ballyreen, Doolin for the past 15 years. According to Mr Spencer, there had been regular flooding approximately 200 yards from their home until five years ago.
Since then, in times of heavy rain, the water flows along the road outside his home. This change, he said, coincided with Clare County Council raising the level of one section of the road by between 2.5ft and 3ft. Mr Spencer said this, combined with relief pipes inserted at the time, has resulted in the water “being pushed” towards residents’ houses.
“The flooding is terribly dangerous,” Mr Spencer told The Clare Champion.
“This is on the coast road from Doolin to Ballyvaughan and on to Galway. It gets a lot of tourists in the summer but even then, when there is a lot of rain, the road floods and we get people coming up to our house for help after getting stuck in it.
“I had four or five registration plates in the shed of people that hit that flood. Drivers are going into it but don’t realise how deep it is. The water gets to about 3ft at its deepest. Houses are being cut off by this and it is forcing people to do a four or five-mile detour to get around it,” he continued.
On Monday Shannon Airport recorded just 5mm of rain while at Mace Head in Connemara, more than 31mm of rain fell. Doolin experienced heavy rain on Monday night and early Tuesday and this brought the problem of flooding at Ballyreen into sharp focus for residents.
“There are thousands of gallons of water coming straight out onto the road here,” Mr Spencer said. He added that he had raised the level of his driveway and had been offered sandbags by Clare County Council to prevent water coming onto his property.
Mr Spencer is now calling for a permanent solution to the flooding and is specifically asking the council to install a pipe to relieve the surface water and bring it to a nearby river valley.
Clare County Council had not responded to questions from The Clare Champion in relation to Mr Spencer’s claims at the time of going to print.