A NUMBER of roads in Cork and Kerry were flooded over the weekend following heavy rain in the southwest and west.
The N71 Ring of Kerry road was impassable at Torc waterfall. Heavy flooding at the Five Mile Bridge area between the upper and lower lakes of Killarney had made the road, popular with tourists and weekend visitors, impassable and it remained closed yesterday. Motorists from Moll’s Gap, Sneem and Kenmare were asked to use the Kilgarvan R569 route to Killarney and elsewhere.
Ponding and flooding also led to the closure of the Black Valley road at the Gap of Dunloe near Killarney.
In west Kerry the Conor Pass high mountain road remained closed while council engineers carried out a safety assessment. The road suffered rock falls and other damage during the recent heavy snow and ice.
Areas of Bandon in Co Cork were flooded and the new Bandon early-warning flooding system came into effect on Saturday evening.
The organisers of the flood warning system say they have had a “mixed response” to the online system which was launched late last year.
“While most welcome it, of course what people really want is no flood at all. People who have grown up watching the river tend to feel their own means of assessing and measuring the river is better in terms of lead time and spotting physical blockages that may seriously impact flow rates.”
The system measures the depth of the river at four different sites – at some future date rainfall will also be indicated and possibly river flow rates.
At the core of the system are a number of river level gauges and a rainfall gauge, computer hardware and software, telecommunication equipment and a public website. RPS Consulting Engineers was appointed by Cork County Council to analyse over 20 years of river level data available from five existing OPW river gauges in the catchment to establish a relationship between upstream levels and subsequent downstream levels during a flood.
Antecedent conditions or catchment wetness were also examined using rainfall data available from Met Éireann to optimise the flood warning potential of the system.
Flooding in Bandon is mainly caused by flows from the Bandon river and its tributaries. Surface water, due to rainfall in the catchment, enters the river and increases the amount of water in the river. Locals in Bandon are still waiting for a guarantee on funding for a crucial sewage and drainage scheme.
Tens of millions of euro worth of damage was caused to businesses in Bandon on November 19th, 2009, when the river Bandon burst its banks.
Traders – some of whom lost their entire Christmas stock – described the flooding as “a total catastrophe” for the town.
Members of the public can register to receive free text flood alerts via the user registration page on bandonfloodwarning.ie