'A scene of desolation': 60 years since Cork was devastated by worst flooding in living memory

Billy O'Riordan recalls a once-in-a- generation weather event 60 years ago, when Cork became a desolate, silent city.

The no.4 bus travelling from Ballyphehane to Spangle Hill makes its way through the floods on Patrick Street.

The worst flooding in living memory struck late on Tuesday, March 6, 1962, culminating on Wednesday morning and into Wednesday evening, with a destructive high tide causing a flooding terror on a scale never witnessed before.

By late evening, Cork city lay in darkness, with all telephone communication between Cork and the outside world broken down. A devastating combination of high spring tides and heavy rain, propelled by 70 miles per hour winds, wreaked havoc across the city and county.