The worst may be yet to come

Editorial

AFTER a week-long deluge and rains of biblical proportions, people might be lulled into a false sense of security in thinking that things can only get better.

Well, they won’t. Clare County Council officials sent out a chilling caution this week for people to batten down the defensive hatches once more because the worst may be yet to come.
With meteorologists ominously predicting that unfavourable weather patterns will continue into the weekend, Clare’s inter-agency crisis management team has reiterated a flood-risk alert, placing Clare in an emergency situation.
Frightening volumes of water have backed up the Fergus and the lower Shannon River systems but, according to hydrologists, the water simply has no escape route other than flooding vast tracts of land around the river basin.
In Ennis’ case, the topography of the town doesn’t help and merely serves to exacerbate its susceptibility to flooding.
Consequently, council officials have put the alarm signal on red, fearful that further heavy rainfall and weekend high tides will have catastrophic consequences for families already swamped in misery.
All week, the headline stories have been of emotional trauma for families, of evacuations and people requiring emergency shelter, of airlifts, road and school closures, infrastructural damage and fears of water contamination.
Flood response agencies have also warned that water levels in the lower River Shannon will continue to rise and have categorised the situation in South East Clare as dynamic.
To offset this, the ESB has decided to incrementally increase the water flows at Parteen Weir. This will have the effect of relieving the threat of flooding north of the dam but will add a further three inches to the flood waters that have already submerged areas in Clonlara, Shannon Banks and Corbally.
It’s a no-win situation and a decision which is, in essence, the lesser of two evils.
While utter devastation has been wreaked, the local emergency plan that kicked into action certainly prohibited further hardship. While it was essentially a team effort, the role all the agencies played 24/7 was critical in its successful implementation.
Indeed, Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Environment Minister John Gormley and Public Works Minister Martin Manseragh visited the county on a whirlwind tour to meet with the people who have been discommoded by the flooding. It was the least expected of them.
But what wasn’t expected was their tardiness in holding a full emergency Dáil debate on the evolving crisis. Indeed, it shouldn’t sit well on the Cabinet table that it took intense parliamentary pressure from Opposition leaders to force the discussion.
The Government dragged its heels but at least it did sanction €10 million in a humanitarian flood relief package and €2 million in fodder aid for the farming community. It’s a start, however meagre the amounts in the context of the overall damage.
But when the waters have abated and a more accurate evaluation placed on the extent of the damage, people will start apportioning blame. But before engaging in that practice, they should remember that the levels of rainfall were unprecedented. They cannot overlook the fact that we, as a society, are engaged in unsustainable practices that have contributed to climate change.
Neither can Clare’s planning policies over the years escape scrutiny. The practice of gobbling up large tracts of natural flood plains for housing development has to have impacted negatively.
Earlier this week, Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea, when speaking about the flooding in South East Clare, conceded that the role of building development was a contributory factor in the scale of the flooding.
“There is no doubt about it that in view of what is now taking place, a lot of planning decisions that have been taken look particularly bad.”
He went so far as to describe some of the housing development as “hugely inappropriate” and “totally inexplicable”.
However, senior engineer with Clare County Council, Tom Tiernan, has strongly defended the council’s planning policy, saying that there is no scientific evidence to back up the allegations being levelled at the planning authority.
“Clare local authorities have been extremely conscious of the sensitivity of Ennis and its environs to flood events particularly since the commencement of the development boom which evolved in the 1990s. 
“Throughout the boom period, all planning applications pertaining to sites in relation to which there were possible flooding implications were vetted thoroughly from a flood-impact point of view. All applicants had to demonstrate clearly using up-to-date scientific analysis that the developments they proposed would not in any way adversely impact on other property from a flooding point of view.
“We wish to reassure members of the public that the planning process has always been conducted vigilantly, particularly when it comes to dealing with sites which are in any way flood sensitive or where development of such sites could have adverse impact on other areas,” he declared.
Mr Tiernan pointed out that The Ennis Flood Study, commissioned by the council, “articulated the fact that the impact of development is minimal in a flood exacerbation context”.
He added, “The non-implementation of any of the development which has evolved in the Ennis area over the past 20 years would not have reduced the impact of the current flood event in any way. Any suggestions to the contrary should be backed up by whatever scientifically based evidence is being called upon to support such suggestions.”
The challenge has been thrown down to the critics of the planning authority – put up or shut up…