Sir, – Wind blew, rain fell; streets and houses got flooded. Property owners can only stand and watch the devastation. A Government Minister lays the blame on Met Éireann. How pathetic!
I was born and raised on a tiny riverside farm where all but one of the fields were naturally evolved flood plains. When the river burst its banks the floodwater had its own safe and natural resting place. Far back in time, around 1850, when my great-grandfather was given the few fields by the landlord, he had enough sense to ask a local where it might be safe to build a house for his wife and family. And so the floodwater never entered the house. It came close but never too close.
All we hear nowadays following heavy rainfall and resulting flooding is political waffle looking for instant localised solutions. Such so-called solutions only result in a change of flooding location, upstream or down. There cannot be a proper resolution to the problem of flooding by rivers unless and until a river’s entire length is examined and a whole-river solution is devised. Then at least there may be some hope of overall improvement.
Over the years we have allowed housing development, including large estates, on flood plains. This has at times resulted from the rezoning of lands by politicians from agricultural to development. The inevitable result has been the severe flooding of homes and properties. That devastation is going to continue year after year. The location will change but the flooding will persist. Rising sea levels will further exacerbate the problem.
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We all have to honestly accept that terrible mistakes have been made and that the problem of the flooding of properties is unlikely to be immediately resolved nationwide. Guy Handelman (Letters, February 16th) is of course correct when he says that we must invest in flood defences but we also as a nation must be prepared to say that we have done much that was not just wrong but calamitous.
MICHAEL GLEESON
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
