Almost two months after floods hit Clonmel, people in the town are still living with the effects of the devastation. None of the compensation to be distributed by the Red Cross has been received, and some houses remain damaged.
The Old Bridge area was badly hit by floods between November 5th and 8th.
Ms Mary O'Donoghue (78) has still not moved back into her house. The dampness, which is visible on the walls and floors of her home, is preventing her from returning from the residential home she is staying in. Marks about four feet high on the walls show where the water rose. Chairs lie tilted against the walls where attempts have been made to dry them out. Flooring has been pulled up, revealing wet concrete floors.
"When you get that type of water on concrete you'll never get it out," said Mr John McCarthy, her nephew.
Mr David Clancy, another resident at Old Bridge, had 20 inches of water in his house which destroyed furniture and flooring and caused a wall to collapse.
"We haven't done a lot to the house because there is no money," he said.
The Clancys have timber floors in some of their rooms but are doubtful they can be saved. "It looked fine for a week and then it started rising in places," Mr Clancy said.
While the flood was devastating for everyone, older people suffered most, he said.
"I have an uncle who is 80. However bad it is for me, I'm 42. I can lift and move things, but he can't. He hasn't picked up at all," Mr Clancy said.
Until now the O'Brien family's house at Old Bridge had never been flooded. They have been in it for 17 years. Now, most of their furniture has had to be thrown out since the November floods, beds, wooden flooring, carpets, cooker, washing machine and clothes. Photographs taken after the flooding show all possessions piled into two skips.
Ms Eileen Clancy said that while it was devastating to lose so much, it was the personal things such as her daughter's baby books and first communion clothes that would be missed the most.
The house is now in good condition because in the month since they returned to it they have worked hard to get it into shape.
"You're looking at receipts for over £10,000," Mr John O'Brien said of the new furniture and flooring. "Our parents have been brilliant and have helped us out financially," Ms Eileen O'Brien said.
Although the O'Briens have applied for compensation, which is being distributed through the Red Cross, they have not been given an indication of how much they will receive. An independent assessor has put the damage at more than £90,000.
After the flooding, people had to clean up as best they could while those whose homes were uninhabitable moved in with relatives.
The local health board provided emergency provisions such as food and blankets. Mr Patsy Looby, whose parents' home was flooded, criticised Clonmel Corporation.
"There weren't even any sandbags to be had," he said. Only one skip was left outside a group of houses where his parents live, but that filled up quickly.
Most people expected compensation to come through before Christmas, but it did not arrive. The Mayor of Clonmel, Mr Brian O'Donnell, of the Workers and Unemployed Action Group, said he had been putting pressure on the Red Cross to distribute compensation. "We were sure it would come," said Ms O'Brien.
Some people in the town needed the money before Christmas to keep them going, according to Ms Mary Clancy, a member of a local residents' group.
Ms Aoife MacEoin, press officer with the Red Cross, said financial compensation would be ready for distribution in January.
"We are at a stage where we are actively assessing people's applications. Little could happen until we had a picture of what was needed," she said.
She said there had been no delay in the process. A proper procedure for assessing compensation claims and the distribution of compensation had to be put in place.
"We were asked by the Government to distribute humanitarian aid and agreed to do so. Accordingly we had to set in place a process whereby people could come to us for help. We had to have an application process," Ms MacEoin said.
The scale of the flooding throughout the State was too widespread to enable compensation to be paid before Christmas. While the numbers applying for compensation through the Red Cross was in the "hundreds rather than thousands", there were between 50 and 100 application from Clonmel.
As well as the financial losses in the town, there are the mental scars. "One thing I did notice was that people just didn't pick up this year," Mr Clancy said.
Ms O'Donoghue has had to give up the privacy of her own house by going into the home, as well seeing her house flooded, said Mr McCarthy.
"People are not fighting . . . They have gone into themselves," said Ms Mary Clancy. One woman had been flooded five times in seven years, and some people had borrowed money to repair damage done, she added.
"It's a terrible way to live, thinking you have this hanging over you and it might happen again."
Ms Clancy is determined to try to stop Clonmel being devastated by flooding in the future. She and other residents' association members organised a petition with 3,500 signatures in an attempt to stop further development on the flood plain.
The petition has been presented to Clonmel Corporation, and Ms Clancy said she would put pressure on local representatives to ensure building on the flood plain stopped.
A plan for a flood alleviation scheme, designed to help prevent flooding in the future, was supposed to be finished before Christmas but had been delayed, according to Mr O'Donnell.
The Office of Public Works said it would go on public display in Clonmel early next year when the people of the town would get a chance to assess it.