Storm Desmond cuts off many parts of south Mayo

SUBMERGED This road at the front of Hazel Court in Ballinrobe was completely flooded.?Pic courtesy of Donna Carney.

Community efforts save many houses from flooding

Ciara Galvin

HOMES have been flooded and villages have been cut off following the ravages of Storm Desmond at the weekend.
However communities continue to band together in south Mayo to aid in recovery efforts. A large number of roads became impassable in the Cong, Cross, The Neale areas including the N84 Ballinrobe to Galway road at The Neale crossroads which was still closed yesterday (Monday) and is expected to remain closed for the early part of this week.
The townlands of Creevagh and Beechgrove and Ballyrourke and Castletown are flooded leaving families unable to leave their homes without assistance.
Neighbours have rallied together in the townland of Beechgrove over the weekend to organise a tractor and low loader to transport cars from the worst affected areas to the far side of the floods.
“We have three ways of getting in and out to our house but they are all completely flooded. Now we have jeeps and tractors to take us through the lowest floods over the fields to our cars,” explained Breedge Biggins from Beechgrove.
Breedge Morrin, also from Beechgrove hasn’t left her home since Friday and described the floods as ‘frightening’.
“There has always been a certain amount of flooding here but there’s gates and walls gone, it’s frightening.”
The road at The Neale National School towards Kilmaine is also flooded with the school and afterschool remaining closed yesterday.
The Cong area has been described as being ‘completely marooned’ with many houses being flooded in the area. Approximately five families from The Neale, Cong and Ballinrobe whose houses have been flooded have been given emergency accommodation.
Keeley Clesham and her family in Caherduff, Cong were recovering from flooding three weeks ago when once again water breached their home at the weekend.
“It came in under the stairs on Sunday, but if it wasn’t for phenomenal neighbours we wouldn’t have a house,” she said.  
The Ballinrobe road to Clonbur is also flooded and remains closed, with up to four feet of water in some parts, and the area of Barna badly affected with houses being severely flooded.
One Limerick couple who had been attending a wedding locally became stranded in a flood in the Barna area with their car becoming damaged as a result.
Meanwhile, two houses were flooded in the Hazel Court Estate on the Convent Road in Ballinrobe on Saturday night. The road into the estate and into the Cornaroya Manor Estate was impassable following torrential downpours on Saturday.
David Crishel of David Crishel Agri Contractors who lives in the area, along with other contractors, and the local fire brigade worked over the weekend to clear the floods which flooded two houses and threatened to flood many more.
The contractors took hundreds of gallons of water from the area, disposing them into the River Robe.
The local fire brigade worked from 11am on Sunday until 9pm that night pumping water from the area to the Bulcaun River. The combined effort resulted in many houses in the area being saved from flooding.

Action plan needed
According to Fianna FΡil councillor Damien Ryan, the Civil Defence and the army have been put on standby for the worst affected areas and can be mobilised within one hour.
“It will all depend on how the next 24 hours go,” said Ryan yesterday (Monday).
“The water levels are still rising and that is a real concern. Drainage has to be looked at as a priority. Some type of action plan, dredging and drainage of the Bulcaun and the River Robe needs to be done,” said Cllr Ryan.
Cllr Ryan said although Storm Desmond brought with it unprecedented levels of rainfall, with drains becoming flooded, the councillor maintains that if water ways were dredged water would be able to escape quicker from flooded areas.
Cllr Ryan commended the work of local communities, contractors and emergency services in aiding in the flood relief efforts over the weekend but reiterated that ‘a solution must be found to get water from these areas quicker’.