DISTRICT MANAGER of Enniscorthy, Mr Pádraig O’Gorman has said that the damage caused by the worst flooding to hit Enniscorthy since 1965 runs into millions of euro.
While all eyes remained on the River Slaney once again last week, thankfully the waters remained at a safe and manageable level, leaving the home and business owners of the town to really get to grips with the cost caused by the floods and the monumental task of rebuilding and getting their properties back to normal.
Speaking to The Echo, Mr O’Gorman said that while there were no figures pertaining directly to Enniscorthy at the moment, a total of 68 businesses county-wide were majorly impacted by the floods and he estimated that a good 75% of these were in the Enniscorthy District.
Similarly he said 77 homes had to be evacuated during the course of the flooding and it would be a relatively safe bet that most, if not all, of these were in the Enniscorthy area.
Mr O’Gorman said that people were really only getting to grips with the damage caused by Storm Frank and the subsequent floods now and, as of Friday, a total of 23 houses were still unoccupied due to flood damage.
“In total 150 properties county-wide were affected by the floods,” said Mr O’Gorman. “The vast majority of these were in Enniscorthy. I suppose if you look at it, the average damage to each business property would’ve been €10,000 at least. That would put the damage at well over a million euro. Then if you factor in the substantial damage to the roads around the Enniscorthy District alone and coastal damage…the damage would run into millions.”
In the wake of floods around the country, the government were quick to announce that financial aid would be made available to businesses affected through the Red Cross, with an immediate payout of €5,000, and homeowners through the Department of Social Protection. Mr O’Gorman says that so far, there has been little uptake from local businesses on the aid packages, however, he expects more applications to come in this week as owners really get to grips with the destruction caused.
“The aid is being administered through the Red Cross, but obviously they come through the council here too. We’ve received eight aid applications to date, but I would expect a lot more in the next week. In fact, I would expect all 68 businesses affected to apply, as they are entitled to do.”
No figures were available for aid being granted to homeowners, however, residents of Island Road were critical that it takes too long for the money to reach them, while in the meantime they are left living in damp homes with no appliances.
While the consultants have been appointed and are currently working on a design for the Enniscorthy Flood Relief Scheme, due to be published in May or June, a problem may arise when the scheme goes to public consultation, meaning the product would be delayed and construction would not get underway late this year or at the beginning of 2017. Mr O’Gorman says that, while the council are not anticipating any major objections to the scheme, procedure must be followed and the plans have to be opened for public consultation.
“I don’t anticipate any major problems,” he said. “There have been some observations and objections from certain quarters, but the bottom line is we won’t really know until the design is done. There has been an overwhelming groundswell of support following the most recent floods and the hope from most people seems to be to get this done as quickly as possible. It is an arduous process, but we have to go through it step by step.”
Legal challenges have delayed a planned flood relief scheme in Bandon, however, Mr O’Gorman says that nothing can be pre-empted at the moment and we’ll just have to see what happens when the plans come out. He did, however, say that massive progress had been made on the scheme in the past six to nine months.
A big worry for flood victims such as those on Island Road is what will happen over the next three to four years while the town’s flood defence is being constructed. Mr O’Gorman says that, realistically, there is very little that the council can do until the scheme is completed.
“All we can do is strengthen our systems,” he said. “But local systems will not deal with the level of flooding we experienced recently. This was larger than 2000’s levels. It was the worst since 1965. Nothing will keep that level of water out.”
While dredging had been tipped as a potential short-term solution to the problem, Mr O’Gorman says that is something which must be pushed at a national level.
“There is an element of dredging allowed in the scheme, but it’s controlled under the environment framework,” he said. “We’re going to look and see if restrictions can be relaxed, but there are environmental constraints.”
The hope is that the most recent flooding has been a freak occurrence and that Enniscorthy will not face that kind of deluge again before the Flood Relief Scheme is constructed.
Bystanders look on in amazement as flood water flows out of The Waterfront carpark and down Templeshannon towards the old bridge. Pic: John Walsh