We must heed storm’s bad tidings

IT CAME like a tidal wave.” That’s how businessman Finbarr Cahill remembers one of the worst floods to hit the south in the last 40 years.

On March 7, 1962, high tides and heavy rain combined and the river Lee burst its banks, swamping Cork city and flooding the shop where he worked on Finns Corner to a depth of three-and-a-half-feet.

"I remember buses were rescuing people from St Patrick's Street. But what was bad about that flood was that it happened again on the Monday morning," Mr Cahill said.