East Cork town marks first anniversary of Storm Babet flooding

Midleton resident Alan Mahy’s home was flooded twice in the space of two days as a result of the river next to his house bursting its banks during Storm Babet a year ago and, every time it has rained since, he and his family are anxious about the possibility of a repeat of the devastation.

Mr Mahy was speaking to The Echo while attending an information event in the town yesterday to mark one year since the town was flooded due to a deluge of rainfall, as well as blocked drains and rivers, damage which was exacerbated by the lack of a promised flood relief scheme.

“It’s raining now, ironically, a year later, raining fairly heavily so I’m going to go home after this and I’m going to be checking the river.

“That’s the norm for now unfortunately to be checking the river level, checking the river gauge and the weather forecast,” he said. 

“We have to make our own decisions about whether we should put up our flood gates, I have 60 or 70 sandbags permanently in our garden just waiting.

High alert

“We have to be on high alert all the time. On October 5, there was a heavy rain storm, status yellow alert for East Cork, and the river rose within six inches of breaking the banks again.”

Mr Mahy pointed out that this had occurred after the council had carried out works on the river to remove silt and other debris that had been washed down during previous flooding. He recalled a rain storm in April, before the works had taken place, when the river had burst its banks again. 

However, that time, the water came up six feet into his drive.

He was among a large attendance at the information event/coffee afternoon organised by the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group in Wallis’ Bar on the town’s Main St to mark the one-year anniversary of the flood.

Many of the townspeople are still recovering from last year’s flooding, and there have been calls for more efficient and more supportive aid schemes to help residents and business owners impacted by the flooding and the refusal of insurance due to there being no flood relief scheme.

Damage

Damage estimated to be in the tens of thousands of euro was caused to homes in the town because of the flooding.

According to a statement from the Department of Social Protection, who administered a humanitarian aid scheme for homeowners, 1,230 payments were issued to 578 individual households under the scheme at a cost of over €3.5m.

The average total payment to each household was approximately €6,055.

The emphasis is now on the delivery of the flood relief scheme which is to go to planning in 2025 or early 2026. The cost of the scheme, when it was first suggested after flooding in 2015, was estimated at around €20m — this has since increased to €50m and townspeople don’t expect it to be in place until 2031/32.