Workers continue to bail out Suir flood water

EXHAUSTED emergency services workers were still bailing out flood water from homes and businesses in Clonmel late last night after raging currents in the Suir deluged more than 100 homes and shops.

Two families left homeless were given emergency health board accommodation last night while another booked into Hearn’s Hotel in the town. Many others have moved in with relatives while the clean up continues.

John and Liz O’Brien had to evacuate their home because of four feet of flood water. They are now staying in a family room at Hearn’s Hotel with their daughter, Olivia, aged 28 and son, Shane, aged 10. They have placed their two pet dogs in local kennels.

Liz O’Brien said: “We managed to make it though floods to the hotel at around 3am this morning and the hotel provided us with accommodation. The house is destroyed as are all the electrical appliances such as washing machines, cooker, freezer, fridge. The lot.”

Eddie Cooney of the Civil Defence who is coordinator of the rescue and clean up operation said the Quays and Old Bridge areas were the worst affected.

He said: “We had nearly 170 rescue personnel out since about 7pm yesterday when the red alert went out. Gardaí, Army, Red Cross and Civil Defence workers got people out of their homes using boats and lorries. The water was up to four feet high in some houses.”

Most people, he said preferred to remain in their houses. “Anybody who wanted to be evacuated was looked after. Some people wanted to get out to get medication and we were running a shuttle boat service through the flooded parts of the Quays and the Old Bridge areas,” said Emergency Coordinator Cooney.

Army personnel from Kickham Barracks, Clonmel, under Comdt Con Whelan managed to get a lot of people out of the flooded areas using lorries.

Mr Cooney said: “The army did great work. They filled huge amounts of sand bags and brought them to the affected areas and helped get people out of their houses.”

Heavy rain combined with an incoming tide caused water levels to rise swiftly last night and early today, flooding houses and businesses.

Owners, who have been unable to get insurance cover for flooding, are now facing massive costs for damages caused to their properties.

Mary Clancy, Secretary of the Old Bridge Residents Association, said up to 100 houses in her area had been hit by the flooding. She said the damage had been more widespread than that caused by the last major flood in 2000.

Aidan Fox, proprietor of the Fitzgerald and Nash furniture and carpet warehouse at Irishtown, Clonmel, said the business was facing a bill of at least €25,000 after the entire ground floor of the 24,000 square foot premises was submerged. “We had the Army here sand bagging the premises, but once the water started coming in it was the same as if handkerchiefs had been used as a defence,” said Mr Fox.

His staff worked frantically through the night hours to move all carpets and furniture onto the first floor. “We had about nine inches of water on the ground floor in the early hours. Our biggest loss is going to be our own carpet which we spent €10,000 on after we were wiped out by the last major flood four years ago.”

Mr Fox said it would be at least Tuesday of next week before he would be able to reopen for business.

Many residents of the apartment blocks at Slievenamon Mews on Davis Road were prevented from going to work because of a flood of up to three feet of water close to their homes.

Pat Looby said the home of his elderly parents in Green Lane in the Old ridge area was under three feet of water. “The flood waters are so high that they are flowing over the toilet and into the bath.”