Flood maroons Rosturk villagers
Anton McNulty
ResidenTs affected by flooding in the village of Rosturk near Mulranny have called on Mayo County Council to open up the drain along the main road which they say is unable to cope with large volumes of water.
Following torrential rain on Sunday evening, up to 12 people living in seven houses were marooned for over 12 hours after their access road was flooded with up to six feet of water. Nobody was able to travel in or out of their homes from 11pm on Sunday evening until 3pm on Monday afternoon.
Residents told The Mayo News that flooding was a regular occurrence in the area but this flooding was exceptional because of the heavy rain. Three rivers in the area meet before entering a drain which flows under the N59 and into the sea and the flooding arises when there is heavy rainfall and the drain backs up because it cannot hold the volume of water.
“This has been happening for as long as I can remember and the drain is not fit to take the amount of water,” explained John Kilcoyne. “This occurs throughout the winter but normally I might be able get through the water with a tractor. But last night’s (Sunday) rain was exceptional and and there were three kids who could not go to school. There is also an 82-year-old woman who lives near me and if an ambulance was called they would not have been able to get in or out,” he said.
Engineers from Mayo County Council were present at the scene to survey the flood and John said that they were not sure if it was a Council or an OPW problem. John’s son Michael explained that the drain along the main road is overgrown and has not been drained for at least ten years. He said the Council raised their road in 2008 but it has since sunk and he feels the only solution is to put bigger pipes into the drain in order to take the water.
“It is impossible to do anything with the fields because it is constantly flooding in the winter and everytime it does, it uproots the fences. All they [Council] have to do is open the main road and make the gully bigger and they will solve the problem. There were 12 people marooned yesterday and it is gone beyond a joke,” he said.
The heavy rain on Sunday evening also washed stones down from the mountain above Mulranny village which were washed onto the road. The strong wind and rain also caused damage to the Demense wall in Westport during the week with a section of it falling onto the road.
There were also reports of roads being blocked by fallen trees and branches but nobody was reported injured.
