35 cars caught up in south Mayo flooding

NO WAY THROUGH A large number of cars have tried but failed to get through this badly flooded crossroads near The Neale. The R334 has now been closed for almost a month. Pic: Elizabeth Toher

Ciara Galvin

AS floodwaters continue to block the Neale crossroads and other roads in the south Mayo area, motorists are still taking chances in the flooding.
Billy McDonald of McDonald Recovery and Breakdown Services told The Mayo News he has towed approximately 35 vehicles from floods last month.
McDonald towed a Honda jeep stuck in floodwaters at the Neale crossroads as recently as January 1.  
Out of the 35 vehicles towed, just six have made it back on the roads.
“If cars get wet inside they won’t be allowed on the road again. We had cars ranging from 2003 models to 2015,” explained Billy.
The recovery man said the floodwaters can be ‘deceiving’.
“You can see the white line on the road but you’re not looking out any further and you’re thinking ‘I’ll make it’. A lot of the owners of the cars would not be from the area.”
Over the past month, Billy has attended recovery operations from flooding in The Neale, Cross, Clonbur and the Claremorris Road in Ballinrobe, taking three cars out of flooding in Ballinrobe in just one night alone.
Asked why people are still taking the risk by driving through floods, Billy said people just aren’t paying heed to signage and are ‘frustrated’.

Frustrated
“People are getting frustrated driving around in circles trying to get where they are going,” said Billy.
Road closures in the Neale area are making the most necessary journeys increasingly difficult.
For the people of Creevagh in The Neale, school trips that normally take minutes are now taking over a half hour as alternative routes require trips into Ballinrobe and via the Lough Mask road.
Road closures at the Neale crossroads, at Garracloon in Cross, in Drumshiel and in Cong village and on the Kilmaine to Neale through Turloughmore/ Islandmore has resulted in major inconveniences for the farming and business communities also.
The main road from Castlebar to Galway through the Neale and Cross has been closed now for four weeks and as a result minor roads through Lough Mask and Creevagh, Cong have borne the brunt of increased traffic, including haulage trucks adding to the damage of the road.