Twelve months after the major floods in the west, locals feel they have been left high and dry by Government and insurance companies
AS THE promised thaw sets in and thick blankets of snow dissolve and river levels rise, there will be no sense of relief in certain parts of the west. It is just over a year since flooding forced people like Pat Forde out of his home, and he and his family and neighbours are not over it yet.
“We’re not back in – we are still in rented accommodation, and the whole experience has been a bit of a disaster,” Forde, who lives with his wife and three young girls in north Galway, explains.
He is spokesman for a group of 13 families in Caherlea and Lisheenavalla, all of whom were affected by the late 2009 floods.
The two parishes are close to Claregalway, and it was the over-development in this commuter belt village on the N17 that is believed to have contributed to the rising water levels in the Clare river during the heavy rains.
“We didn’t build on a flood plain. In Claregalway, some parties did,” Forde explains. When the Clare river burst its banks, Claregalway village was split in two, and local farmers provided a temporary ford with tractor transport for several days.
However, the village’s new business park and the suburban housing constructed on the flood plains were not as severely affected as the rural communities upstream. Some families were moved to the local Claregalway hotel by Galway County Council due to lack of electricity, but only one house actually flooded, according to the local authority.
Liam Kehoe and his wife Cathy built their house on family land at Caherlea that had never been prone to floods.
“We moved back in at the end of April, because we had no choice,” Kehoe says. “We got insurance, which covered the basics, but we are very worried about the fact that it could happen again.”
A report on the Clare river situation, commissioned by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and published by Ryan-Hanley consultants last June, notes that arterial drainage works undertaken since the 19th century would have “significantly influenced” the present drainage network.
The 93km river, which rises north of Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, and flows into lower Lough Corrib, runs through karst limestone, marked by temporary or permanent turloughs and swallow holes. Extensive land drains dug in recent decades downstream of Claregalway have had an impact, along with over-development. The river’s level is also directly influenced by the state of Lough Corrib.
Kehoe and Forde believe the operation of the sluice gates above Galway’s Salmon Weir bridge is a key factor – though the Ryan-Hanley report notes that no new gate manipulation policy could be recommended that would reduce Corrib levels after heavy rain. In any event, both men are frustrated at the delay in implementing a series of remedial measures recommended by Ryan-Hanley.
The package of measures include installation of additional “flood eyes” on bridges at Claregalway and Crusheen – the latter bridge being close to Crusheen and Lisheenavalla. The measures also include regrading the channel upstream and under the Claregalway bridge, and provision of a local embankment at the old Nine Arches bridge in that village.
“They’ve knocked the ball alley in Claregalway, to show us something is being done, but work is being held up now by an archaeological survey,” Kehoe says. Both Kehoe and Forde recall Minister of State for the OPW Dr Martin Mansergh promising action before the onset of the next winter as part of a multimillion euro plan.
Independent councillor Jim Cuddy is also not happy with progress. “People were told work would begin last September, but nothing is happening,” he says.
The Fordes are paying both mortgage and rent for their temporary accommodation, but find it unsustainable. “Some €50 million was promised by the Government for flooding, but we never saw any of it,” Forde says.
“The big problem is getting insurance cover again if we do move back in,” he says. “Politicians have agreed that we need one insurance company to take on cases like ours, once a Government strategy is in place.”
“However, we have also been told that this is against competition rules.
“There’s so much red tape, and the insurance companies are winning out,” he says.