February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Hundreds of people have been left homeless, tens of thousands of acres of land have disappeared under the H2O, businesses have been bankrupted, and farmers left facing a feed crisis that will last months.
And still the rain and flooding continues in parts of the country amid fears the national flood repair bill will rise into the hundreds of billons of euro.
Motorists were again this week warned to take care on the roads due to flooding in many parts. Rising waters that devastated much of the west and midlands for more than a week hit the east of the country on Sunday when the River Liffey burst its banks.
Kildare was worst affected by the latest heavy rains, with three nursing homes and a number of houses being evacuated, and a number of roads left impassible.
On Monday, communities along the Liffey, which rises in Wicklow and flows through Kildare into Dublin county and city, were bracing themselves for further flooding as water levels rose upstream.
Sandbags were delivered to towns along the river by the army, local authorities, civil defense volunteers and fire services. Roads across Kildare and at Strawberry Beds in Lucan in West County Dublin where the Liffey burst its banks were flooded, as well as routes in counties Longford, Wicklow, Westmeath, Galway and Clare.
In County Clare, a flood warning remained in place along the lower River Shannon.
It is expected that high flood waters in the west and midlands will take several weeks to recede. There were also fears that Limerick City, which has so far escaped the catastrophic flooding, could be at risk from high tides.
Water levels in Athlone, County Westmeath, continued to rise at the beginning of this week while in South Galway, the Irish Farmers Association called for one single authority to assume management of the Shannon waterway if a “crisis is not to be repeated.”
Fianna F_il MEP Pat “the Cope” Gallagher, Fine Gael’s Jim Higgins, and Independent Marian Harkin confirmed on Sunday that they had flown over the area by helicopter to get a “full appreciation of the problems posed.”
The MEPs said they were “still confident that the government application for EU solidarity funding, or funding from other sources to help with the flood relief, will be favorably considered in Brussels”.
The Irish Red Cross and St. Vincent de Paul have welcomed the “terrific response” to their appeals for assistance for flood victims in the west and south. Water supplies have been restored to the vast majority of households in badly hit Cork City and schools reopened on Monday.
Cork was one of the counties worst hit by the severe flooding following a week of relentless, torrential rain. Cork County Council reopened County Hall for business on Tuesday after floods caused serious damage to the building more than a week ago.
A temporary headquarters had to be put in place and services were minimized while the repairs were carried out. However, the Cork County Library headquarters will remain closed until further notice.