Carrowholly community ‘living in fear’ of flooding

Council told of Carrowholly community ‘living in fear’ of flooding


Neill O'Neill

REPAIRS from the storm of last January are ‘substantially progressed’ in the West Mayo Municipal District, the area of the county which contains almost all its coastline, and which endured the brunt of the devastation from storms Brigid and Christine earlier this year.
Discussing the issue at a meeting last week, local councillors were passionate in their words to describe the plight of the people of Carrowholly, outside Westport, with Cllr Brendan Mulroy stating that in 15 years as a public representative, he was never pleading for anybody like he was for them.
Councillor Christy Hyland wanted to suspend standing orders (the guidelines which govern such meetings) to discuss the matter in detail when proceedings commenced, saying that he was not imagining the continuous danger of flooding which had gripped the community of Carrowholly. He circulated pictures, taken last week, illustrating his point.

Badly affected
Carrowholly was particularly badly hit earlier this year, with access for residents in various parts cut off by surging tides, while an old stone bridge was washed away, leaving only one road in and out of the area around Rosmoney. Several houses were badly damaged by rising waters, while some families had to be taken from their homes by boat, and could only watch as the sea flooded their properties.
Director of Services, Martin Keating, said that an extensive list of sites had seen work undertaken and that staff were stretched to achieve this progress, in what had been one of the busiest periods they have ever encountered, with a huge amount of assessments needed. He added that the majority of works were on target to be finished, or very nearly so, by the end of this year, and that the council had been contacted by the community of Carrowholly in recent weeks, thanking them for the work undertaken to ‘put things back together’ after the storms.
“It is not as simple as going out and putting up walls,” he said. “It has taken planning to go out and fix existing infrastructure and we can’t just go throwing money at solutions that might solve problems, we need the best advice before spending what are scarce resources.” He also stated that tidal surge forecasts and warnings were being monitored, but that he had not been made aware of recent flooding incidents in Carrowholly.
Senior Engineer, Padraic Walsh, added that Carrowholly posed a ‘complex situation across a significant area which needed careful design and consideration’.
“Consultants have been appointed for this work but we can’t rush in and do something unless we know it will work,” he added.

Pleas
Councillor Christy Hyland said it was hard to explain to people who had to get up at 6am to be sure they could get out of their houses in case of a wind and high tide trapping them, that assessments and licences were causing  the delay.
“If a high wind and tide combine today there will be houses flooded in this area and people are living in huge fear, I can’t emphasise that enough,” he stated.
His Westport-based colleague, Cllr BrendanMulroy, called for an emergency plan to be put in place that evening.
“If houses are flooded in Carrowholly tonight it is detrimental on the people there and reflects poorly on us,” he said, while Cllr Tereasa McGuire said people’s lives are at stake. Councillor Rose Conway-Walsh described Carrowholly as ‘an emergency situation’, and called for those who live near the sea, and know it’s patterns, to be consulted.
Works schedule
Padraic Walsh had explained to the meeting that an approach for the storm damage repair and works schedule across West Mayo had been set out early in the year.
This sought firstly, to do the clean up, then road repairs, followed by marine structure repairs and finally the Office of Public Works (OPW) funded flood defences. He added that funding from the Department of Transport for road repairs is all spent, while the funding from the Department of the Marine for marine repairs has been mostly spent, with the rest earmarked for specific works. The funding from the OPW was divided into repairs to existing infrastructure and the construction of new marine defences. This is the work which is taking the longest to commence and complete.
“There are a lot of ecological assessments needed so we had a lengthy lead in and couldn’t roll out works straight away, we had to comply with the law,” Mr Walsh explained. “There are some contractors at work on the new marine infrastructure/coastal defences projects but it is a lengthy process requiring ecological assessments, foreshore licences and detailed design, we cannot rush in to it. Some of the money for new coastal defences will be spent this year, but the rest will take time to implement.”