Madam, - Thankfully, we appear to be recovering from the severe shock of those terrible floods. But we'd better prepare ourselves, because they will come again.
One factor that does not appear to have been mentioned so far is the enormous number of front lawns converted to car-parks over the past 10 to 15 years. I reckon that in the suburbs of Dublin every second front garden is now paved.
Some of them look lovely, of course, with their varied design and highly professional finish; but, as always there is a price to pay.
In bygone years heavy rainfall was absorbed into front lawns; but now the rain falls on the paved front garden, and runs off either towards the house or, most likely, out onto the road and into a drainage system that was not designed to cope with such flows. - Yours, etc,
JOHN NEWMAN, Glasnevin Avenue, Dublin 11.