Flood compensation for uninsured firms ‘to be paid by Christmas’

Compensation for owners of uninsured small businesses affected by flooding will be paid before Christmas, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works Simon Harris said on Sunday.

The Minister said application forms for compensation were available on the Red Cross website and could be returned electronically or by post.

“I would encourage businesses impacted by flooding to make an application for that,” he added.

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Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan talks to fireman Denis King in Corbally in Limerick, Ireland, as flooding continues along the banks of the River Shannon. Photograph: PA

He said while it was expected water levels in rivers would peak on Sunday and Monday there was a still a significant flood risk in a number of locations around the Shannon.

Mr Harris said while the number of houses flooded so far was relatively small that was no consolation to the people affected. He said there were supports in place through the Department of Social Protection’s humanitarian assistance scheme.

He added community welfare officers were calling to flooded homes. There was an emergency up-front payment to meet costs and a second payment when the damage had been fully assessed, he said.

He said almost 700 members of the Defence Forces had been deployed to help local communities.

“Clearly, a huge amount of work has been done by agencies with communities right around this country to try to minimise the flood damage,” said Mr Harris.

Mr Harris said there was still significant concern about flooding in Athlone where three houses flooded overnight. Water levels in the upper Shannon rose by 10mm overnight.

On Sunday afternoon the ESB said water levels in the Shannon were continuing to rise and as a result it was increasing the flow of water through the Parteen Weir to around 440 cubic metres per second, more than 10 times the average for this time of year.

The ESB warned that "this level of water flow is likely to lead to increased flooding of roads, land and property in the vicinity of the Shannon downstream of Parteen Weir including the areas of Springfield, Montpelier, Castleconnell, Mountshannon (Annacotty) and the University of Limerick. "

While the heavy rain forecast for the weekend proved to be less severe than expected flooding is being reported in many parts of the country.

In Limerick city eight houses and a number of cars in Richmond Park, Corbally were flooded last night.

Yesterday, homes close to Clonlara in Co Clare were flooded with the River Blackwater burst its banks.

In Co Cork, Bandon remains on high alert as the River Bandon is expected to peak later today. Bandon suffered serious flooding last week.

In Athlone three houses flooded overnight

In Dublin people living near the River Liffey between Chapelizod and Islandbridge were warned last night to remove vehicles from underground carparks because of the risk of rising water.

The Strawberry Beds were closed due to flooding last night as was the slip road onto M1 Northbound at Balbriggan, Estuary Rd in Malahide and the slip road at junction 5 onto the M4 at Leixlip. All routes have since reopened.

Assistance Scheme

The Department of Social Protection said it was assisting people through its means-tested Humanitarian Assistance Scheme.

Fewer than 100 payments have so far been made through the scheme, spokeswoman Helen Faughnan said, as "it generally takes time for people to get in touch".

She said community welfare staff had been making house calls in affected areas and providing money towards replacement food, clothes, bedding, fuel and items such as phone top-ups.

On Saturday Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly said on Saturday the flooding was "very bad" from an infrastructure point of view and said flooding on this scale "has never been seen before".

“Sunday, Monday Tuesday are going to be the days where we see the absolute impact of this.”

Mr Kelly said he was planning to bring a memo to Cabinet next Tuesday to try and help deal with some of the infrastructural issues.