Counting the cost after Storm Brigid

Counting the cost after Storm Brigid


Cost considerably more than for Christine

Áine Ryan

Storm Brigid may not have been quite as enraged as superstorm Christine but early estimates of its cost in County Mayo are ‘considerably higher’ than the €4.5 million bill for the devastation caused in the New Year.
That is according to Achill’s Fianna FΡil Cllr MicheΡl McNamara who told The Mayo News last night that officials had confirmed that: “The estimate at this early stage for damages is considerably higher this time than after the storm in early January.”
He has called for the government to source an emergency fund to be made available immediately, arguing that there is not time to wait for European funding.
He said he was sure emergency funding would be found for the damage incurred in Limerick over the weekend and that Taoiseach Enda Kenny needed to prioritise such a fund now for his home county.
Cllr McNamara said the situation was exacerbated by the fact that areas already devastated were even more vulnerable to the high seas and, moreover, that significant remedial works already carried out had been undone.
“While the tides were high the wind wasn’t as strong but any remedial works at Dooega and Dooagh were undone and the road to Dooega pier and Dooega West were undermined,” he said.
He also said that the strong currents coupled with the high tides at Bullsmouth, which services the island community of Inishbiggle, ripped up the car park and moved islanders’ vehicles up to 30 metres.

Ten-times more damage
MEANWHILE, Fine Gael Cllr Austin Francis O’Malley told The Mayo News yesterday that the weekend’s storm ‘had caused ten-times more damage in the townland of Devlin’ west of Louisburgh.
“I have literally just walked this area with Willie Kelly [Mayo County Council] and the damage is ten-times more along the beach and has left the road much worse than a month ago. There are barriers twisted out on the road  and there is also a lot of land in Devlin flooded,” Cllr O’Malley said.
He said Carrownisky beach was ‘all demolished and in on the land’ and that ‘the tide between Doughmakeon and Emlagh had opened up the dunes’. Cllr O’Malley also confirmed there had been more damage done at McCabes house, which is on the edge of a slipway at the Quay on Clare Island.
Speaking on Saturday morning his party colleague, Cllr Johnny O’Malley said he and his neighbours in the Carrowholly area had been cut-off for a time as the storm-force winds pushed the high tide inland on Saturday morning. .
“As I speak to you I am on an island and this is the second time this month it has happened. I was a boy, nearly 50 years ago, when I last remember such flooding here. The government will have to find money from somewhere as there is an awful lot of debris and seaweed hurled up on farmlands,” Cllr O’Malley said.

Rosmindle
HE said he was concerned in particular about another nearby coastal area, Rosmindle, where householders were cut-off for six days earlier this month. Residents from that area later confirmed the road into Rosmindle village was flooded.
In a statement they said: “We are completely isolated and we have to depend on people to bring food into us back the seashore on low tide. This has happened before at the start of last month January 1. This will happen again in March as we are expecting more high tides. We need Mayo County Council to help us. We can not access town, attend medical appointments, go to work or school. The salt water will not go down for at least six days.”
Responding to the latest crisis, Padraic Walsh, Senior Executive at Mayo County Council, said:   
“The impact of the latest storm was most significant over the weekend around Carrowholly and the coastal  areas west of Louisburgh, as well as in Achill and Erris. These are the same areas that were most affected by the earlier storm and we are now cataloguing the damage and will send it to the Department of Environment.”