Spot flooding follows thundery downpours in Cork city due to lack of drainage capacity 

Incidents of spot flooding in a number of areas on the southside of the city following a heavy downpour of rain on Tuesday evening arose because of a lack of capacity of the drainage gullies to deal with the intense rainfall, a Cork City Council spokesperson has said.

Sudden and heavy thunder showers of rain left some motorists having to navigate carefully on roads covered with sheets of water in some places.

Flooding was reported on the Rochestown Rd near the entrance to the Thornberry Estate and in Blackrock, as well as other locations following Tuesday evening’s downpours.

In a response to a query from The Echo, a Cork City Council spokesperson said the local authority area offices maintained drainage gullies and drains in their areas.

“In the event of sudden and heavy thunder showers as happened on Tuesday, the existing network does not have capacity to deal with the intensity of rainfall and flows and some temporary surface flooding will result,” the spokesperson said.

“Cork City Council operates an emergency out of hours call out system and responds to calls received as soon as possible.”

According to Green Party councillor for Cork City South East, Honoré Kamegni, Munster was hit with “intense bursts, enough to overwhelm road drains quickly” on Tuesday evening and he noted that this coincided with a Status Yellow Rain Alert.

The councillor said that areas such as Rochestown Rd, Passage West, the South Link Rd and Douglas had become waterlogged and that drivers had reported backlogs and “impassable streets”.

“Many blocked gullies and already saturated ground made the situation worse,” said the councillor.

“This is classic urban flash flooding when heavy rainfall falls on impermeable surfaces (roads, pavements) faster than drains can handle.

“In places like Rochestown, already dealing with clogged or insufficient drainage, that means water quickly accumulates.”

According to Cork City South East Fine Gael councillor Des Cahill, there was what he described as ‘brief flooding’ following a heavy downpour in the area.

“Heavy downpours do create flooding, the ebbing of the waters within 20 minutes usually happens, if there isn’t a capacity issue,” he said, urging people to drive with care when such floods do occur.

“Persistent flooding does require remedial works and the council will address this,” he said.