Mayo councillor warns future flooding of land will result in loss of life

A WEST Mayo councillor has warned that lives will be lost due to land and roads being flooded if a local river is not cleaned of trees growing in it.

Substantial flooding took place across large areas of Kilmeena and other parts of Mayo over the weekend following heavy snowfall and rainfall from Storm Bert. A number of public roads were flooded and households living along them were unable to leave their homes until the flooding subsided on Sunday evening.

Local councillor John O'Malley told the monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District that he saw areas which had never flooded before and put the blame down to a backlog of water on the Mayour River.

The Independent councillor said the river which flows through Kilmeena has not been cleaned in over 20 years and fears that flooding will get worse in the future if something is not done soon.

“I have been asking for years for the Mayour River to be cleaned because it has not been touched for 20 years. I am going to say this now that if that river is not cleaned soon and if there is another flood like it a life will be lost. Believe me a life will be lost unless that river is cleaned,” he told the meeting.

Cllr O'Malley added that acres of land which never flooded were flooded and he knew of at least one domestic septic tank that was flooded as a result. He said the flooding is a direct result of the river not being cleaned and reiterated his criticism of the policy of the OPW in not providing funding to clean it.

“If we want our people to live in rural Ireland then we have to start cleaning the rivers and get the water running into the sea. There is not a drop going out because of trees and all sorts of growth in the river. Somebody will lose their lives. I saw houses on Sunday where people could not get in or out of and if they chanced it with their car they would have got stuck. I tried to get into Knockboy and there was three feet of water in the middle and it came up to the door in the jeep before backing off.

“I am begging and demanding that the Mayour River be cleaned and the tributaries because if we don't it won't be fit to live in rural Ireland,” he said.

He was supported by Louisburgh-based councillor Chris Maxwell who said that a bridge was washed away in Louisburgh by the floods and the state of rivers was a major issue.

Westport-based councillor Brendan Mulroy stated that people in Westport had taken it into their own hands to clean the Mall and criticised anyone for reporting people for cleaning their land.

“If a farmer goes into his land some do-gooder will pick up the phone and that person will be reported in minutes and the full force of the law will come down on that person. That needs to stop. It is time we looked after the people of rural Ireland because we are trying to flood them out at the moment and it is disgraceful.

“I would say to Mayo County Council to go out with our councillors and identify where these places are and they need to make an application for these rivers and drains to be cleaned. Talking to people they have never seen flooding like it in their life but the reason is the rivers are all backed up and have nowhere else to go,” he said.