Girls’ narrow escape as seat collapses into river

TWO Newcastle West teenagers narrowly escaped death when a riverside seat collapsed into the river Arra, the night after it overflowed and surged through streets of the town causing massive damage.

Both girls were pulled from the river by passersby and were said to be badly shaken.

Growing concern exists in the west Limerick town, and other areas affected by Friday’s flood, that bridges and other river infrastructures may now be unsafe.

The girls were sitting on one of a number of concrete riverside seats which overlook a duck sanctuary when the wall holding the seat tumbled into the river.

“Luckily for the two teenagers, the fierce flood had abated when the accident happened on Saturday night,” said Cllr Patrick O’Donovan.

“Both girls were thrown into the river but, luckily, passersby managed to get them out safely.”

Mr O’Donovan said there was concern in the area that major structural damage may have been caused to bridges and other river structures which might not be visibly apparent. Engineers were yesterday brought in by Limerick County Council to carry out inspections along the Arra and its tributaries.

A number of bridges over minor rivers which run into the Arra have been damaged.

Two parapets of a bridge in Gardenfield, Monagea, were washed away in last Friday’s flood.

“No bridges have been closed off and we have carried out preliminary examinations of structures to see if there is any obvious physical damage,” said council director of water services, Paul Crowe.

He said water levels will need to fall further before they can carry out more extensive examinations.

Meanwhile Mr O’Donovan said there was also growing unease that the Government has given no firm pledge to put in place a special emergency fund for people whose properties were flooded and who may be underinsured or have no insurance at all in what he said was a very freakish flood.

“The minister in charge of the Office of Public Works, Martin Manseragh, gave no commitment when he visited the town on Friday,” Cllr O’Donovan said.

“Limerick County Council have been brilliant and worked through the holiday weekend. But the council have limited resources and should be given a special allocation.”

Up to 12 houses in Athea were badly damaged by flood waters when the River Gale broke its banks.

A carcass of a cow, drowned in the floods, was washed up on the beach in Ballybunion on Saturday. It was removed by a team of Kerry County Council workers.

Insurance companies are dealing with hundreds of claims from west Limerick which could run into millions of euro.