Anger as graves flooded

Families angry at flooded graves in Westport cemetery


Anton McNulty

A NUMBER of graves in a Westport graveyard were flooded over the last number of days following heavy rain causing considerable upset to the families involved.
The graves in a new section of Aughavale Cemetery started to flood last week when rain water started to gather and lie close to the graves at the bottom right hand corner of the graveyard.
As a result of the water not being able to escape a number of graves started to flood and fill with water. As well as the water lying on the graves, the footpaths leading to the graves were also covered in water with up to two inches of water lying in places.
Over the weekend workers with Mayo County Council were attempting to divert water from the graves but on Monday morning there was still water lying on the graves. Bernie Gill, whose son Noel and son-in-law Petie Geraghty are buried in the cemetery, welcomed the work being carried out and hopes it will solve the problem.
“The Council workers were out on Friday and dug trenches but the graves were still flooded with water this morning [Monday]. I hope what they are doing will solve the problem but I am not too sure it will,” she told The Mayo News.
This is not the first time Noel’s and Petie’s graves have flooded with water and Bernie said a number of graves close to them are also badly affected. She said it is very upsetting for families visiting to see the graves of loved ones in that condition.
Their graves were one of the first to start to flood but now graves close to them are also flooding. The Council installed a drain grid along the footpath earlier in the year but it is not sufficient to deal with heavy rain. Bernie said the families were not going to accept the situation for much longer.
“Something has to be done about it, they cannot continue to be left in water like this. There is no drainage whatsoever and I have been on about it for the last eleven months but it now involves more than us. I am absolutely devastated, that is my son and my son-in-law and we are awfully upset.
“The Council put in this grid but it is doing nothing. When the graves were dug, they were filling with water but they were pumped out before the funeral came. The Council knew this area was prone to flooding and there should never have been anyone buried at this end at all. This has been going on since last February and we are not prepared to put up with it anymore,” she said.