Cork: Hundreds of business people in Cork have been left with estimated losses totalling over €10 million following this week's severe flooding in the city centre when the River Lee burst its banks on Wednesday.
Cork Business Association President Mr Frank Hanley yesterday urged the Government to increase its funding to Cork City Council from 27pc to 35pc to allow the council maintain commercial rates at 2004 levels to help out traders hit by the floods.
Mr Hanley pointed out that traders in Cork city centre had already suffered serious losses over the past four years because of the disruption caused by work on both the Cork Main Drainage scheme and the refurbishment of both Patrick Street and Oliver Plunkett Street.
"A lot of these traders had suffered losses of 20-25 per cent in business because of all the disruption over the last four years, and they were just beginning to claw that back when they were hit by the floods - the flooding has really put the kybosh on some of them," he said.
Mr Hanley was speaking as traders in Patrick Street, Oliver Plunkett Street and all of the cross streets linking them, continued with the mopping up and cleaning operation yesterday.
Mr Hanley said many traders were worried about a repeat, and while Cork had a disaster plan in the event of any chemical accident, it appeared there was no effective emergency flood plan in place and one should be incorporated into the disaster plan.
Cork City Council had done nothing by way of providing sandbags to traders in low-lying areas who had to obtain their own sandbags. The council should maintain a large store of sandbags for quick distribution when flooding is forecast, he said.
Cork City Council senior environment and drainage engineer, Mr Eamon Walsh rejected any suggestion that the Cork Main Drainage scheme had contributed to the problem, and pointed out that the scheme was carried out primarily to deal with sewage flowing into the Lee.
Mr Walsh said that the flooding was the worst in the city since March 7th, 1962 and that it was caused by a combination of a high spring tide, heavy rainfall and strong easterly winds which resulted in the Lee flowing through city streets because it had nowhere else to go.
The tide had been predicted in hydrographic tables to reach 2.02 metres, but it actually reached 2.9 metres.
Navy divers will resume a search of the River Lee today for French crewman believed to have fallen overboard from a vessel moored at the quays.
At Kinsale there were no signs of any serious fuel oil leakage from a cargo vessel blown on to rocks in the gales.
Three people had to be rescued from Park Road, Mallow,yesterday afternoon when they drove into almost 10 feet of floodwaters after the Blackwater burst its banks and flooded park grounds and some low-lying areas of the town.
Cork County Council northern division engineer, Mr Aidan Weir, said that flooding had threatened to engulf the Spa area of Mallow at around 2 a.m. yesterday but, in the end, flooding was confined to the Bridge Street area where some premises were under a foot of water.
In Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Clonakilty and Bantry, people began a clean-up operation after Wednesday's floods while firefighters spent much of yesterday pumping water off the main Cork-Cobh road near Fota.
