Clean up cost of July landslides to cost €2m

Clean up cost of July landslides to cost €2m


Anton McNulty

THE total investment required to restore normality to areas affected by the landslides and flooding which occurred in the county last July is estimated to cost close to €2m.
A report on the flooding published on the Mayo County Council website shows that on the night of July 2, 2009, torrential rain which affected the Glenisland, Tourmakeady, Newport, Mulranny and Keenagh areas, deposited more than 60mm of rain, with one location recording 42mm in one sixty minute period. The return time for such an event is estimated to be in excess of two hundred and fifty years, and the deluge caused extensive flooding and landslides in a number of locations.
The restoration work needed to return the area to normality will involve input and investment by a number of Agencies and Departments. The total investment required to reinstate public infrastructure, to repair private property, and to restore normality in the area will be €1,971,000.
There has also been considerable damage to private property and a significant number of streams and rivers have altered course and will require urgent and extensive realignment and reinforcement works. The Marine Institute estimate that it will cost up to €350,000 to replace lost and damaged instruments and equipment, and to repair rivers and the Treanlaur Harbour and slipway.
Coillte estimate that the event caused €35,000 of damage to Coillte property in the area. The Irish Youth Hostel facility at Treanlaur suffered extensive damage which needs immediate repair and will cost in the region of €128,000. The IFA estimate that the cost of repairing damage to the forty farms affected will be in the order of €208,000. 
The report details the damage which occurred, the measures which have been taken to temporarily repair the infrastructure and property, and the permanent works required to put right the damage caused during the flooding and landslide events.