Street flooded and school forced to close following burst water main in Cork city

A burst water main that occurred on Redemption Road this morning resulted in a street being flooded, a primary school closing early and water supplies being turned off for the local community until later this evening.

Redemption Road has reopened to the general public once again in the last hour as crews from Irish Water continue to carry out repair works following the burst water main which occurred earlier this morning. 

Local councillor Kenneth Collins said the incident has caused a lot of ‘disruption’ in the area. 

“It was a serious incident. It caused a lot of disruption in the area. The water was flowing out and into people’s houses. Thankfully it is after subsiding now. It caused a bit of distress and anxiety for everybody involved,” he said.

Local primary school Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers had to close early today following the burst water main, said Councillor Collins who is a member of the school board of management. 

“Unfortunately the local school Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers had to send their children home this morning for health and safety reasons because of the incident." 

"The board of management had to make a quick decision to close down the school and that put stress on the guardians and the students.” 

Local residents are still without water following the incident with the water supply not expected back until later this evening. Cllr Collins said the incident was very “upsetting” for all the residents. 

“Irish Water are currently on the scene and they are repairing the damage. The water was turned off as they had to turn off valves and the supply. The estimated time of repair is 5pm this evening. "

"It was upsetting for everybody in the community. All the community was affected. Having no water was tough on the local residents. The incident led to a lot of repercussions," he added.

A spokesperson for Irish Water told The Echo: “Crews were mobilised this morning at around 11am following a burst water main on Redemption Road. 

"We hope to have the repairs finished at around 5pm. Following these repair works, the water supply may take an additional 2-3 hours to return as the water refills the network.

“Irish Water understands the inconvenience when a burst occurs and thanks customers for their patience while we completed repairs and restored normal water supply,” the spokesperson added.