While Clonmel and other towns came through the flood emergency relatively unscathed, a farming family down-river suffered devastation when the operations of Coolfinn Organic Farm were wiped out in a matter of minutes.
Michael Shanahan and his family had just finished milking their herd of 160 goats on their low-lying farm near Portlaw, Co Waterford, on Monday night when there was a breach of the embankment containing the nearby River Clodiagh.
The pent-up waters erupted through the 15-foot breach with the force of an explosion. They swept tons of mud, rocks and tree trunks over a field and across the main Kilmeaden to Carrick-on-Suir road, tearing up the road surface.
Millions of cubic metres of water poured on to and covered about 1,000 acres of land surrounding the Shanahans' residential farmhouse. Mr Shanahan, his wife, Rose, and their three daughters managed to leave the farm before the waters rose.
They quickly moved their goats, cattle and horses to the farms of neighbours but several cattle had already drowned.
Yesterday the organic farm, which supplied fresh and frozen goat's milk to outlets throughout the country, had become a vast lake which was spreading further as more water poured into it with each successive high tide.
"This is the worst emergency you could have: our livelihood is completely gone. We've been lucky to escape with our lives and our livestock," said Mr Shanahan as he discussed with neighbours and contractors whether it might be possible to plug the gap in the river embankment.
"I've been wiped out since Monday," he added. "I haven't yet spoken to any of my customers who will have been expecting to see me in the past two days."
Farm buildings and sheds were inundated and the Shanahans were using a canoe to reach the dairy. "We had large stocks of hay and straw in because it's just the beginning of winter," Mr Shanahan pointed out.
The river that burst its banks is a tributary of the nearby River Suir and is also tidal, but the Shanahans' land had not been affected by the previous recent flooding incidents along the Suir.
The last time the land at Coolfinn was under water, they said, was 1941-42 and it took almost two years to close the breach and drain the land.
Now the busy R680 route between Kilmeaden and Carrick-on-Suir is in danger of major damage as the tidal waters flow over it unhindered.
The Shanahans have been told that their insurance does not cover flood damage. Last night, as a rising southerly wind began to drive more water on to their land, the family members were setting off to try to milk their goat herd by hand.