James Cox
A clean-up operation is continuing this morning following severe flooding in Cork.
Hundreds of homes and businesses suffered damage when Storm Babet passed over the south of the country yesterday.
People were forced to wade through chest-high flood water in Midleton in east Cork yesterday after a month’s rain fell in just over 24 hours.
Over 100 properties in the town have been flooded, while the town's community centre will host people who have been forced to evacuate their homes.
Glanmire has also suffered extreme flooding, with the town effectively closed off yesterday due to the level of the floodwaters.
The floods have hit numerous towns and villages in Cork and Waterford, and it iss expected the clean-up will take weeks and cost millions.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has opened the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for home and business owners impacted by the floods.
Members of the Defence Forces were deployed to Midleton amid the extensive flooding.
Cork County Council said more than a month’s worth of rain had fallen in the space of 24 hours, leading to unprecedented flooding, saturated land and high river levels across the county.
In a statement, it said: “Midleton town is currently impassable with over 100 properties flooded. The council has established a coordination centre in Midleton Fire Station to coordinate arrangements. A rest centre in Midleton Community Centre has been established to facilitate persons who require evacuation.”
This morning, Cork County Council has warned people to be cautious while travelling as a number of roads are still "closed and impassable".
A lot of the shops have no insurance because it‘s a flood zone, the town hasn’t seen anything like this in 400 years.
Midleton Fire station officer Mark Sinclair said: "It's absolutely devastating. I'm born and bred in the town, I've seen many a flood, but none of this capacity. This came so quick, we helped as much as we could and tried to get as many people to safety as possible. We’re still going around checking on people to see if they need help .
"Numerous calls came in during the day (yesterday). I think it was 11am that the river burst its banks, then by 2pm there was pure devastation. The main street was like a river.
"A lot of the shops have no insurance because it‘s a flood zone, the town hasn’t seen anything like this in 400 years."
Mr Sinclair explained that recent heavy rain had led to saturated ground, then there was high tide along with torrential rain which led to the river bursting its banks.
Midleton solicitor Ken Murray told of how he noticed the waters rising from 11am. By early afternoon, the water outside his office door was three feet deep. He was unable to open the door because of water pressure.
Looking out the window, he saw a man in a canoe and asked him to help, which he did by bringing him to the main street where he could see cars caught in the flood water.
All local businesses were in the same position, he said, waiting to see what damage had been caused and what their next step would be.
⚠️ Please take care if travelling this morning. A number of roads are closed and impassable. Please be aware of standing water with damage to roads and be especially conscious of vulnerable roads users such as pedestrians and cyclists ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/yg3ckYQakJ
— Cork County Council (@Corkcoco) October 19, 2023
Local Liam MacCarthaigh said he had been temporarily “stranded” during the after-school run in the town due to the floods.
Euan Whelton, 21, from the village of Glandore, in Co Cork, said he has not seen flooding “this bad” for 10 years.
Mr Whelton, an agriculture worker, said the Skibbereen Fire Brigade pumped water from the area for “five or six hours” on Tuesday but said it remained underwater on Wednesday afternoon.
He said that the harbour village was “closed down” in 2013 due to heavy flooding and told the PA news agency: “I would say in 10 years it hasn’t been this bad.”
⚠️⚠️⚠️ Please avoid travel to Midleton if possible ⚠️⚠️⚠️ pic.twitter.com/IVZfnMhjc6
— Cork County Council (@Corkcoco) October 18, 2023
He added: “There were a few houses down there that were flooded, there was probably a foot or two of water inside the houses.
“There was a riverbank burst and it flooded on the houses down there. There was a high tide as well so it was hard to get the water out.
“The fire brigade was there for probably five or six hours pumping it out but it’s still all underwater at the moment (Wednesday afternoon).”
Mr Whelton added that in one of his cousin’s houses, the water was “coming in the back door and going straight out the front door”.
The director of services at Waterford City and Council, Fergus Galvin has told of the “significant impact” on the road networks in the west of the county following the heavy rainfall from Storm Babet.
“We had some very significant issues on the main national primary route, which is the main route for services from Rosslare port through Waterford and on to Cork, that was blocked for a period of time when the sea wall which runs adjacent the road approaching Youghal bridge, was blown out by the surface waters there yesterday morning, which led to to significant, very, very significant delays there.
"And the N72 national road, which runs between Dungarvan Town to Fermoy and Mallow and further west, again, we've had significant issues all along that at stretches that run along the Blackwater River and the Blackwater River was subjected to very significant runoff surface water from the adjoining areas yesterday.”
Mr Gavin said it has not yet been possible to assess the extent of damage because the roads are still under water which was likely to remain the case for the remainder of today. He said he had been speaking to colleagues who had no recollection of flooding of this scale in the last 30 to 40 years.
“I would appeal to people not to drive down those roads. It's not just the risk of getting stuck in flood waters, but there's a risk as well that there could be surface damage to the road structure itself and that that could cause significant difficulties.”
The status orange warning for Co Cork, and yellow warnings for counties Dublin, Wexford and Wicklow have now expired. However, Met Éireann has warned of localised flooding in the latter three, along with the extensive flooding in Cork. - Additional reporting from Vivieen Clarke and Press Association
