Storm Frank: Flooding in several parts of Co Cork

Homeowners and businesses across Cork are counting the cost of Storm Frank after flooding occurred in both city and county areas.

According to Met Éireann at Cork Airport, some 61 mm of rain has fallen in the area since 9am on Tuesday as Storm Frank continues to batter the south of the country with near gale force winds.

The ESB was reporting a number of power outages in Cork county with Timoleague in the west of the county worst affected with some 1,400 homes losing power early on Wednesday.

There were smaller outages in areas such as Dunmanway, Cloyne, Castlelyons and Carrignavar and Kilbarry in the city.

Some 20 businesses in Bandon were flooded for the second time in a month after water started to come up shores and gutters in the town as levels in the River Bandon rose overnight.

Traders were joined by Civil Defence, fire brigade personnel and Cork County Council staff well as local farmers with slurry tankers as they battled through the night to contain rising flood waters.

Seán O’Donovan, a former mayor of Bandon, said pumps distributed by the council did help but up to 20 premises in the centre of town were flooded to a depth of two feet.

Among the areas affected were South Main Street, North Main Street, Bridge Street, Weir Street, Brady’s Lane and Pearse Street, most of which were flooded earlier this month after Storm Desmond.

Mr O’Donovan said some 100 people were involved in the effort and virtually all traders were able to move stock after the council issued a flood alert.

Evacuations

In the east of the county, Midleton was hit by severe flooding as water levels in the Owenacurra river rose dramatically. Up to 30 families had to be evacuated from their homes.

Supt John Quilter of Midleton Garda station said some 13 families had to be evacuated from the Woodlands Estate while another six had to be evacuated from Railway Cottages.

A further three families had to be evacuated from Distillery Lane as flood waters entered their homes. Those affected were accommodated overnight in the Park Hotel in the town.

The army was called in overnight to put in structural support on a wall to protect a housing estate in the town from flooding as water levels in the Owenacurra rose.

The N25 Cork-Waterford road was closed due to heavy flooding between Castlemartyr and Killeagh and gardaí were unable to put diversions in place due to flooding on back roads.

Gardaí were reluctant to divert traffic heading east to Waterford north via Fermoy because of flooding on roads from Fermoy to Conna and Tallow, said Supt Quilter.

In Fermoy, council staff were also erecting mountable barriers to protect low-lying areas off the town such as Ashe Quay, O’Neill Crowley Quay and Brian Boru Square.

So far the flood defences in the town appear to be working even though there is heavy flooding on several low-lying routes around the town including the Conna, Tallow and Ballyduff roads.

‘Terrible’

Householders in Meadowbrook in Glanmire also face flooding after the Glashaboy river flowed over.

Cllr Ger Keohane said the community in Glanmire was living under the threat of flooding for the second time since 2012, when houses in Meadowbrook also came under water.

“The situation is terrible at the minute, there is so much rain falling at the minute that the drains just can’t take the water - the Meadowbrook housing estate in Glanmire is under threat again,” he said on Cork’s 96FM.

There was also flooding around the Kinsale Road Roundabout and the Viaduct on the Bandon Road out of Cork as well as on the Passage and Rochestown roads on the south side of the city.

The Lee Road on the north side of the city, running parallel to the River Lee, was impassable for a time due to flooding while there was spot flooding on the Carrigrohane Straight.

In Cork city centre, water levels in the River Lee were continuing to rise in both channels with a high tide leading to flooding along some of the more vulnerable quays early on Wednesday.

The low-lying Oliver Plunkett Street and South Mall areas have escaped flooding to date.

Barriers

Water levels in the Blackwater also rose overnight but so far flood defences in Mallow appear to be working after Cork County Council staff put up mountable barriers near the bridge area in the town.

Bridge Street and the Spa which traditionally were vulnerable to flooding were closed off because of the barriers but so far flood waters had not entered either area to the relief of local traders.

However, gardaí in Mallow were reporting severe flooding on the low-lying Park Road in the town as well as along the Killarney and Killavullen roads and in Lombardstown to the west of the town.

There were also reports of flooding in Rathcormac overnight which made the old Rathcormac to Watergrasshill road impassable but flood waters there appear to have abated.

There was also flooding in Masseytown in Macroom overnight while roads around Crookstown, Farnanes and Ballinagree in Mid-Cork were also impassable.

Discharge

The ESB also warned that it expected to increase discharges from the Inniscarra Dam on the River Lee, some 14 kms upstream of Cork city, to 250 cubic metres per second from on Wednesday.

Dam management has had to increase the discharges due to the heavy rainfall overnight and it may have to increase the discharge levels further over the coming days, it said.

In November 2009, the ESB discharged large volumes of water from Inniscarra Dam which led to the River Lee bursting its banks downstream and extensive flooding in the western reaches of Cork city.

On that occasion, discharge levels from the dam hit 535 cubic metres per second with the ESB saying it no option as water was entering the Lee catchment at a rate of 800 cubic metres per second.