Midleton traders call on Cork council to provide early flood warning system for town

Traders in Midleton have called on Cork County Council to look into introducing an advance warning system for possible floods in order to avoid a repeat of the damage done during Storm Babet last month.

Auctioneer Adriana Hegarty was among the traders who attended a meeting earlier this week to discuss the recent flooding, which caused millions of euro of damages to commercial and residential properties.

She said one suggestion made was the possibility of introducing a warning system such as a siren that would give people notice of potential flooding and allow them some time to move cars or save stock in their shops.

Midleton sits at the confluence of the Owenacurra and Dungourney rivers and has been subjected to notable flooding events repeatedly over the last 20 years.

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The Owenacurra, which bursts its banks and flowed down Mill Road and on to Main Street in Midleton after Storm Babet, is a shorter watercourse with a smaller catchment area than the Blackwater or the Lee, meaning there is not the same time lag when water levels start building up.

“I know with the Blackwater, because it’s a longer river, it’s possible to predict water levels in Mallow and Fermoy rising because there is a longer lead in time with the rain falling to the West and the same with the Lee and Cork City, but we need an improved warning system here in Midleton,” Ms Hegarty said.

“The water levels rose very quickly, and Mill Road quickly turned into river, and it came down very fast and caused a lot of damage, but we were lucky it happened by day because we were all about but if it happened by night, nobody would have been around to save any stock or equipment.”

Midleton newsagent Fergus McCarthy said: “We know that we can’t get the early warning system that they have in Mallow or Fermoy and we know that there was a freak amount of rain dropped in one area around Midleton the last day and the likelihood of the same happening again is probably very small.

“But even if we could get some notification, be it a siren or gardaí or the fire brigade driving through town with a tannoy, even half an hour or quarter of an hour before, you could get your car out of the way or do whatever you can do in half an hour, it would be a huge help.”

The Irish Red Cross has confirmed it has received a total of 58 applications under the Government’s Emergency Business Flood Relief Scheme for once-off ex gratia contribution towards the costs of returning business premises to their pre-flooding condition.

There are two options with Scheme A comprising a single once-off contribution towards the damage up to a maximum of €5,000 and a second part where damage exceeds €5,000, applicants can apply for an initial contribution of €5,000 and then further payments to a maximum of €15,000.

The second option, Scheme B, applicants can apply for a single once-off contribution up to a maximum of €10,000 or where the damage exceeds €10,000, they can apply for a single initial contribution of €10,000 plus further payments up to a maximum of €100,000.

An Irish Red Cross spokesman said it had, as of close of business on Friday, received 24 applications under A1/A2, 30 applications under B1/B2 while a further two applications were awaiting confirmation on scheme choice and another two were deemed ineligible or withdrawn.

“Ten applicants have received their first initial payments. Their files have been sent to an assessor who has set an appointment date with all businesses to carry out an assessment before a second payment is made,” said the spokesman, adding that the total paid out to date is €100,000.

He said that one applicant had received a payment of €5,000 which was their total claim while seven applicants had been verified by the local authority and the Irish Red Cross is awaiting their bank details so that the charity can make a first payment.

A further 11 applicants are on hold as the Irish Red Cross awaits clarification from the Department of Enterprise on specifics on their application while a further 27 applications are incomplete and have been returned to the applicants for further clarification.