Erris bears brunt of Storm Callum’s wrath

HIGH TIDE The heavy rain from Storm Callum saw the road from the Quay in Westport, down to the Point, become completely submerged last Friday morning. Pic: Paul Mealey                                                              

Anton McNulty

A COMBINATION of early morning high tides and gusts of wind in excess of 100km per hours caused flooding of roads in some coastal areas but by and large Mayo escaped relatively unscathed by the force of Storm Callum.
Last week Met Éireann issued an orange weather warning for Mayo for 11pm on Thursday night which lasted until 5pm on Friday afternoon. They warned of the risk of coastal flooding and damage due to the combination of high winds, heavy rain and high tides.
While the storm was not as bad as was feared, up to 6,000 homes and businesses in Mayo were left without power when Storm Callum made landfall in the early hours of Friday morning, with the majority of those affected in the north Mayo area.
ESB crews were mobilised on Friday morning as they battled to reconnect households with 1,500 left without power in the Bangor Erris region and up to 400 in the Ballina region. The strongest gust recorded in Ireland was in Mayo when a gust of 125km per hour was recorded in Belmullet.
The Erris peninsula was one of the areas hit hardest by Storm Callum with the high tide resulting in roads being blocked for a period of time on Friday morning. The main R313 Belmullet to Blacksod road was closed as large waves came over the road at low lying sections and made it dangerous for vehicles to pass.
There was also localised flooding at the Quay in Westport on Friday morning and at Carrowholly with two local roads flooded. Mayo County Council staff were on hand in areas which were experiencing flooding to minimise the affect of the storm and diversions were put in place where possible.
There were very few reports of structural damage caused to buildings but there were disruptions along N58 between Castlebar and Foxford at Ballylahan bridge after a tree blocked one lane. The old Turlough Road to Castlebar was also closed on Friday morning due to a downed electrical line.
There were no reports of any significant travel disruptions with the public advised not to make any unnecessary journeys. Irish Rail were operating as per schedule and all scheduled flights from Ireland West Airport Knock took off and landed as normal.
By early afternoon on Friday, number of coastal roads which had experienced flooding were again passable as as the tide receded and the level of the winds dropped significantly.
According to the National Emergency Coordination Group, Storm Callum did not cause as much damage as had been expected.
“Storm Callum tracked as forecast by Met Éireann with the worst of the storm affecting the west coast and fortunately did not hit in all areas as hard as it could have, resulting in minimal disruption,” a statement from the National Emergency Co-ordination Group said on Friday.
“Thanks to preparations by all agencies involved, coastal areas were protected from certain flooding. Galway in particular was protected by the aquadam put in place.”