Bandon traders thank locals who helped clear flood water

Traders in Bandon in west Cork have paid tribute to local farmers and agricultural contractors who helped to clear the town of flood waters and enable a clean-up operation to begin early.

Frank O’Leary, of O’Leary’s Fashions on the town’s South Main Street, was able to face into the flood damage caused to his shop a day earlier than expected after contractors worked late into the night to clear water from the town centre.

“John Collins brought in this big pump and was taking 35,000 gallons of the street every hour,” he said. “They managed to get the town clear of flood waters a day early.”

Tankers

The farmers and contractors used slurry tankers to draw water continuously from the streets which started to flood from about 4am on Wednesday with flood waters peaking about 2.30pm.

Although the Bandon did not burst its banks, much of the centre of the town ended up under several feet of water which came up shores and drains and left Oliver Plunkett Street, South Main Street, North Main Street, Bridge Street and others under up to 3ft of water.

Cork County Council staff along with Civil Defence and members from the Cork County Fire Service had worked through the night to try and limit flooding but the heavy rains brought by Storm Frank made it a losing battle.

Mr O’Leary said the flooding was worse than that which hit the town on December 5th and 6th but many traders, himself included, had not yet replaced damaged flooring.

Cllr Alan Coleman said this flood was much more widespread than the one earlier in December with villages such as Ballinspittle, Riverstick, the Halfway and Ballinhassig also badly hit.

Clean-up

The clean-up operation was also continuing yesterday in Midleton in east Cork where a combination of high tides on the Owenacurra river and heavy rains from Storm Frank led to up to 50 businesses being flooded at the eastern end of the town’s Main Street. The main N25 Cork-Waterford Road east of Midleton was closed between Killeagh and Castlemartyr due to heavy flooding and was not expected to reopen until today at the earliest.