Wexford flooding due to heavy rains could cost ‘hundreds of thousands of euro’ to fix

Roads are closed after unexpectedly heavy downpours in Gorey area on Thursday afternoon

A Garda road closure close to the scene near Aclint Bridge in Ardee, Co Louth, after three women were killed and two men seriously injured in a road accident involving three cars. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday July 21, 2017. Gardai said one woman, aged 39, was driving one of the cars, and the two other women, aged 69 and 37, were passengers. See PA story ACCIDENT Deaths Ireland. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Damage caused by unexpectedly heavy rainfall in the Gorey area of Wexford could cost “hundreds of thousands of euro” to repair, the director of services with Wexford County Council has said.

Mr Hoare said 16 roads were flooded, five of which were blocked, when 20mm of rain per hour fell for a number of hours on Thursday. All roads were open as of Friday morning, except one, which he hoped would reopen later in the day.

The heavy rain led to four business premises and two homes experiencing flooding, he said.

The heavy rain, which was confined to the Gorey area, had not been expected to be as bad as it was, Mr Hoare told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.

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“It was an unusual event, but there have been a number of events like this happening this year. It is very hard to predict events like that.” So far this year there have been four such events, with €5 million spent on repairing roads and bridges damaged in flooding last Christmas, he said.

Throughout Thursday evening emergency crews and up to 10 fire tenders, including two from Wicklow, were working to try and relieve the worst affected areas, a statement from the council said.

Gardaí issued a traffic alert for some roads in the county. The M11 between Junction 22 and Junction 23 were closed in both directions due to flooding.

Photos on social media showed cars partly submerged in inches of water on some roads in the county after the severe flooding.

Jade Wilson

Jade Wilson

Jade Wilson is a reporter for The Irish Times