Mayo avoids serious flooding damage but farmers still suffer

Mayo avoids serious flooding damage but farmers still suffer


Edwin McGreal

MAYO may have avoided the worst extremes of the serious flooding that afflicted other parts of the country but farmers will feel the affects in the coming weeks and months.
That’s according to Mayo IFA Chairman Martin Gavin who argued that last week’s torrential rainfall, allied to unseasonal flooding during the summer, will take its toll on farmers over the winter in terms of farm feeds.
“The big problem is it is going to be a disaster of a year for fodder,” Mr Gavin told The Mayo News. “Between the summer and now there is bound to have been a certain amount lost. That problem won’t be apparent just yet, but a lot of farmers will run short in the new year because the weather will have affected their ability to provide their own fodder. There’s a big concern then about if they can afford to bring in fodder. So there will be hardship down the line.”
And with south Mayo victim of the worst of the floods in this county, local councillor Patsy O’Brien says it’s too early for farmers to count the cost but there could be collateral damage.
“Fodder won’t be a massive problem this time around but there could be a lot of potential fencing damage which won’t be apparent until the water recedes. But it could have been a lot worse too,” said Cllr O’Brien yesterday (Monday).
That it could have been worse was something echoed by Mayo County Secretary John Condon who was quick to point out that council work conducted in recent times helped alleviate further damage.
“Council workers have done an awful lot of great work but one significant reason why we have not been badly hit is because of the work we’ve been doing year round. We’ve been keeping drains open and working on maintenance to ensure that when incidents like this occur, we’re in a good position to deal with what happens.
“We’ve worked closely with the OPW on drainage work and we’re all pulling together. With climate change this type of thing may become more frequent so we’ll have to protect ourselves and invest more in this kind of thing.”
The benefits of such preventative works were clear to see in south Mayo, according to Patsy O’Brien. One area around Kilmaine had been victim to flooding for 21 consecutive years but this time around, it had escaped.
“A certain amount of work has been done in recent years and that has helped. Certainly the draining off of the Thomastown and Cooliscuffs turloughs in Kilmaine has helped greatly. There was one area that was flooded every year for 21 years, that held off this time. But I would ask council engineers to examine areas that have been hit this time to see what remedial action they can take.”
The main vehicular slowdown was caused at the N5 in Ballyvary, with the flooding of the roadway underneath the railway bridge just outside the village. Traffic lights were installed as only one lane of traffic could pass from Thursday until Sunday, before the full road reopened yesterday (Monday).
The N84 road from Headford to Ballinrobe via Shrule and Kilmaine was closed over the weekend after flooding at Ballymartin while flooding also blocked the R334 from Cross to the Neale on Monday last. The flooding had been cleared at Ballymartin by this stage however, meaning there was always a route open for traffic from Headford to Ballinrobe.