A 67-year-old Co Mayo man drowned when he stepped out of a car into an overflowing river, an inquest heard in Castlebar yesterday.
John Joe O'Boyle of Townakeel, Ballina, was dropping a life-long friend home after a neighbour's funeral when the accident happened.
Mr O'Boyle was unable to see the road because the bridge he was crossing was immersed in floodwater.
Neighbour Peter Gallagher, told the inquest that he had campaigned for Mayo County Council and the board of works to have a proper bridge built on the roadway into his home at Doodaune, Kenagh, Ballina, but had failed to have it included in the local improvement scheme.
A verdict of accidental death was returned.
The coroner for south Mayo, John O'Dwyer, said the accident shouldn't have happened.
"If Mr Gallagher was accommodated by those in officialdom and provided with markings, this accident would not have happened," he said.
Sgt James Gill told the hearing that floodwater was coming over the bridge.
This made it impossible to identify the outer edge of the bridge on the side the floodwater was coming from.
The weather was extreme with storm force winds, gusting up to 120km/h (80mph) with torrential rain, he said.
Dermot O'Malley, Keenaghbeg, Ballina, said on January 7th he arrived home around midnight.
When he got close to Mr Gallagher's house he saw a car parked on the bridge about 18m (20 yds) inside the roadway gate.
Mr O'Malley added: "The car was parked slightly sideways and I could see that the right front-wheel had driven or slipped over the side of the bridge.
"The bridge is a flat, concrete structure and there are no walls or parapets to prevent a car from going over the edge.
"The stream was in flood and the water was flowing over the bridge and the roadway to a depth of about six inches."
Mr O'Malley said he knew the car belonged to Mr O'Boyle.
He feared the worst and did a quick search with a torch. He then raised the alarm.
Mr Gallagher told the inquest that he had been at a neighbour's funeral that day and Mr O'Boyle insisted on driving him home.
The first thing he knew of the accident was at 1pm the following day when his neighbours, Dermot and Breege O'Malley, told him.
John Hegarty said he found the body of his uncle at 5am while searching the river at Doodaune.
Mr O'Boyle's body was lying face down in a field about 73 to 91m (80 to 100 yds) from the bridge where his car was parked.
It was about 3.4m (10 ft) from the stream, which had been in flood earlier.
Garda MJ Burke said the right wheel had driven off the right-hand side of the concrete bridge and the car was resting on its suspension.
Garda Burke added that the driver's door was open and it was obvious that if the driver had alighted through that door he would have stepped into the raging flood as it entered the two gullies which carried it under the bridge.
The cause of death was due to drowning.