Storm Babet: Residents in Midleton told to remain on high alert

Vivienne Clarke

Cork County Council’s director of services for roads and transportation, Niall Healy, has called on residents in the Woodlands estate in Middleton to remain on high alert due to the high risk of flooding following Storm Babet.

Mr Healy told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that residents should engage with the gardaí if they call to their door and to observe precautions because of the high risk of flooding.

The estate which is on the north end of the town is an association of roughly 20 houses which flooded in the last 24 hours, he explained. Six or seven homes had to be evacuated, and the estate is being closely monitored.

“We have had a crew on standby overnight that were checking the flood risk areas.” Fire crews were going door to door in the estate urging residents to evacuate their homes.

“We're asking people to just literally pay attention this morning, that is a high risk area.” Main Street also in Midleton remains under observation, he added.

“There was some sort of surcharging of the combined sewer in the town at different stages overnight. And that was something that we were keeping an eye on, but it wasn't of concern to us. The Woodlands Estate is the area that is of most concern to us at the moment.”

The yellow alert rainfall warning continues until 9 a.m. this morning, he said.

The N25, which is one of the primary transport links in East Cork remained closed to traffic for much of yesterday, reopening in the afternoon with a one-way traffic management system in place.

“We've been monitoring that overnight. The flooding in the area has subsided, so we expect to be able to reopen that road shortly to air traffic.”

Mr Healy said there had been significant damage to the road infrastructure right across the county, particularly in the southern part of the county.

The local authority was attempting to identify all affected locations so that damages can be assessed, and a funding request can be put to the Government for repairs and reconstruction in some places.