Devastating flood is true test of town’s resilience

NEWCASTLE West is a town which prides itself on enterprise and resilience.

Both traits are being tested this bank holiday weekend as the town’s 8,000 citizens come to grips with the damage caused by Friday’s nightmare flood.

Typical among them is Ailish Mullane, a young businesswoman with two boutiques in Newcastle West and Charleville, who was forced to look on as more than five years hard work was destroyed by mucky flood water which rose nearly five feet in her shop, Kimono on North Quay.