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Midleton in east Cork was hit by extensive flooding, with politicians promising support
Hundreds of homes and business premises in Midleton, Co Cork, sustained water damage in the floods.
Dublin and Wicklow were under an orange rain warning, with a risk of flooding in parts, which expired at 8am on Saturday.
Met Éireann says today will be much drier, with most showers in the north and west, with highs of just 10C to 12C in light to moderate breezes.
Sunday is also set to be largely dry, but rain, some of it heavy will move into the south and west in the afternoon, with highs of up to 14C.
Heavy, thundery rain is expected for Monday, with more wet and windy weather expected into the rest of the week.
President Michael D Higgins has said flood protections in place in Midleton were “insufficient” as the town recovers from the worst deluge and flooding event in its history.
As the residents of Midleton began to clean up their town and homes after the devastating flooding, President Higgins yesterday said his “heart goes out to them”.
“Looking at the images that I’ve seen of people in Midleton, I’ve seen people who have spent all of their lives looking after their house, looking after their neighbours, and they are just devastated,” he said, speaking following the closing ceremony of the World Food Forum in Rome, where a key focus of his speech was the response to climate change.
“I think it’s very important to realise as well from a government policy point of view – and no doubt the Government is considering this – is that whatever protections they had were insufficient.
“We are now in circumstances where the consequences of climate change – as I have been speaking about here earlier – are ones that are going to be visited on us again and again.
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“It’s very easy to say ‘be resilient’ but anyone who knows the effect of water, even when the water itself has subsided and the [process of] remaking your house… my wish as President is that they will get every assistance that is needed and beyond it to enable them to restore their community.”
The President praised the people of Midleton for their “strength and sense of each other”, which will be a “great resource for them going forward”.
“They, of course, need all the assistance, they will need immediate assistance. It will be over quite a period of time. Nobody can underestimate the consequences of damage like this,” he said.
In response to the flooding Midleton sustained, Finance Minister Michael McGrath said the town’s long-awaited €50m flood defence scheme will be progressed, with formal planning permission expected to be sought in 2024. The scheme will protect over 600 properties in the east Cork town.
“I expect the final bill associated with this major flood event is going to be very significant,” Mr McGrath said.
“We are going to have to compensate the relevant local authorities in relation to the cost of reinstating the public infrastructure, the roads, footpaths, any damage to bridges, the public realm and so on. That will be done outside of the normal budgets because we recognise that this is an exceptional event and it does warrant an exceptional response from the State.”
Mr McGrath said the emergency flood relief scheme to help traders will be activated next week.
“Given the scale and depth of the damage, we do recognise that there will be a need to go beyond the existing parameters of that scheme, which currently involves a cap of €20,000 per business premises,” he said.
“We are also conscious that so many of those businesses simply do not cover through their insurance policy for a flood event because they have been flooded before. Some people will have insurance cover. We don’t have an estimate of the overall cost at this point.
“I want to assure the people of Midleton that funding is in place. We just have to get it through the statutory processes as quickly as possible. My heart [also] goes out to the people of Glanmire… unfortunately, those homes have suffered a devastating flood event. We all want to make sure that is the last one they suffer.”
Cork County Council pleaded with people to avoid Midleton given the ongoing flood risk. Council roads director Niall Healy said they were carefully monitoring developments, with river levels exceptionally high and expected to remain so for the next few days.
Thankfully, yesterday’s high tide did not trigger a repeat of catastrophic flooding despite the overnight rainfall.
Midleton Fire Brigade members said they were exhausted after 48 hours of battling flood waters which had nowhere else to go.
Station officer Mark Sinclair said it had been a challenging few days for everyone within the emergency services.
“There have been times when you feel like you are fighting a losing battle – the water has nowhere else to go,” he said.
Three of Midleton’s five medical clinics were hammered by flood waters. Dr Mike Thompson, of Imokilly Medical Clinic, said damage to their premises was initially estimated at more than €90,000.
“This was a very special incident – it was the worst flooding to ever hit Midleton. People here need significant help. My fear is that a lot of traders won’t come back from this unless they get significant help, particularly given the fact that most people here do not have flood insurance,” he said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, during a walkthrough of the town earlier this week, told the people of Midleton that he understood their frustration but said the flood protection scheme was “progressing”.
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