Flooding fears

Evacuated families in fear of further damage

Claire Egan

“I LOOK out the window and across the road the fields are saturated. If it continues to rain like it has done this past while it will surround the house like last year. One year on, nothing has improved.”
Almost 13 months ago, south Mayo suffered unprecedented flooding. For weeks, roads were blocked, fields drenched and on occasion families were evacuated from their homes. Tractors, boats and, in some instances, jet skis were deployed to ferry people to and from their destinations.
Cathy McCarthy and her two children trekked across muddy fields to gain access to their family home as the road at Garracloon village, between The Neale and Cross, remained impassable.
“Over a year on, nothing has changed and nothing has been done. An official from Mayo County Council called out one day and had a look around while another official from the Office of Public Works did the same. Basically, we have been told by the Council that as the road leading to our house is not a Council road there is nothing they can do and it is not their problem,” explained Cathy this week.
“I am constantly worried that we will be flooded again and that we will go through the same thing as last year. If I ever wanted to sell the house, unfortunately I would not. Because of this it is virtually worthless.”
Five million euro is the estimated repair cost for the south Mayo region where over 51 areas have been afflicted. Of that, €3 million is required for drainage works at The Neale and Cross. Minimal works, including road-raising, have been carried out at Turloughmore and Ballywalter.
Mayo County Council told elected representatives of the Ballinrobe Electoral Area last June that the Department of the Environment have refused to allocate funding for damages caused by flooding. There have been numerous attempts by councillors to keep the funding agenda afloat but momentum appears to have been lost.
“We have been told that we will need to use funds from our Road Works Programme to cover the costs of flooding. The matter has dragged on for months and it was only in June of last year that we learned the Department had refused our application. I tabled a notice of motion last January with regards to flooding in south Mayo requesting an OPW delegation to attend our meeting. We are awaiting their response,” explained Cllr  Patsy O’Brien.
In the majority of instances, homes have not been covered for external flooding, which insurance companies refer to as ‘an act of God’.
“Overall, I would say we spent nearly €10,000 or so cleaning and re-decorating the house, plus repairing damages in the yard,” said Jim Connolly whose 100-year-old farmhouse was flooded in December 2006.
“No works have been done on our road since. The Council did nothing and the OPW never came back after one call-out. Naturally, it is always at the back of our mind that the place will flood again. I suppose relocation would be the only solution if we were to flood every year but it’s very hard to leave your own home.”