Madam, – Ged Martin (November 24th) raises interesting questions for UCC, but they should also be asked of the planning department of Cork City Council. Some of the recent planning decisions for the Victoria Cross area left many scratching their heads. The theory that the latest flood is a once-in-800-year event is absurd, as city records will show. Have we forgotten the meaning of Corcaigh? “Marshy Place”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The ESB responded to the release of water from the Inniscarra dam, stating that the event was “unprecedented” (Breaking News, November 22nd). Unprecedented it may have been. Unexpected it was not.
Many in the surfing community worldwide use a website called MagicSeaweed.com that gives real-time and time projected maps of global surf conditions such as the swell height and period. The website also hosts the same maps for meteorological conditions such as wind, rain, and atmospheric pressure.
With one click of a mouse one can track storms and forecast swells across the globe. This has revolutionised surfing, as you can now plan a surf session days in advance (enough time to come up with a good excuse to ditch work!).
The storms that deluged and battered Ireland this past week were present and accounted for on MagicSeaweed for the entire week. If such a simple website can clearly show the severity of the approaching storm, then why can’t an entity such as the ESB be prepared for the deluge in advance? Given the amount of rainfall in November, why were the water levels not lowered before the storms hit? Why was there a need to wait for the activation of an emergency plan? Why wasn’t there a pre-emptive plan? How can this happen in 2009? If the consequences were not so serious, I would offer that the ESB have beaten a certain Mr Henry for the most embarrassing gaffe of the week. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Your correspondent Peter Tagney (November 21st) asked if Cork city has a climate change adaptation plan. I don’t believe we have, but we do have the highest-paid lord mayor in Ireland.
The incumbent receives €103,000 salary plus his councillor’s salary of €17,000, plus an expense account of €50,000 and is provided with a car and driver. In October last year our city councillors voted to bring the lord mayor’s salary to its present level at the same time as the city council was making some workers with temporary contracts redundant.
The absence of a climate adaptation plan is probably connected to our councillors’ sense of priorities. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The flooding and devastation in recent days qualifies quite clearly as a natural disaster requiring a centrally co-ordinated emergency response from the relevant authorities. Unlike fast-moving events, such as Hurricane Katrina for example, Ireland’s disaster happened in slow motion, following weeks of heavy rains and high winds. As such, this disaster was entirely foreseeable.
The emergency services, coastguard, gardaí, defence forces and local authorities are to be commended for their locally innovated responses to the flooding.
The response of central government however has been lamentable. The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen was invisible throughout the crisis until his belated appearance in a series of stage-managed visits to various flooding sites.
The national taskforce on emergency planning did not seize control of the crisis until too late in the day, resulting in avoidable communications and co-ordination failures as evidenced in the unexpected release – for many vital stakeholders – of floodwaters by the ESB at Inniscarra.
A full four days into this crisis, the Taoiseach had yet to announce any plans for relief or assistance to those affected by this crisis. This entire affair represents a text-book failure in strategic planning, co-ordinated emergency response and basic political communication. Comparisons with president George Bush’s performance during the New Orleans debacle are unavoidable, – Yours, etc,