LÉ Orla arrives in port to assist water treatment engineers

THE navy steamed into Cork port to help in the city’s flood relief effort.

The LÉ Orla tied up at the city’s docks and provided teams of specialist naval engineers to help assess the damage to the city’s Lee Road water treatment plant.

The building on the four-acre site, which supplies water to the entire northside and parts of the southside, was swamped by up to 20 feet of water on Friday morning.

The flood has knocked out water supplies to almost 18,000 homes, 16,000 on the northside and 2,000 on parts of the southside around Ballintemple, Ballinlough, Blackrock, Mahon and the docklands.

The navy engineers, together with water pump specialists from the city fire service, helped council engineers pump flood waters from the treatment plant yesterday. The full extent of the damage will be established today. Authorities do not expect the plant to be in action before the weekend.

The naval engineers have also provided pumps to move water from road tankers to the header tanks in the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) and Shanakiel Orthopedic Hospital to maintain sanitation facilities. MUH, which came within an hour of a full evacuation at the peak of the flood, was fully operational yesterday. Its emergency department, which had to close after being flooded, has reopened and the hospital has resumed scheduled operations. Special arrangements are being made to ensure ambulances can gain access to the hospital while some surrounding streets remain closed.

At University College Cork (UCC), college bosses said they have lost around 25% of their teaching facilities, over 500 staff have been forced out of their offices and buildings, and at least 2,000 students have been evacuated from accommodation. Emergency accommodation is being sourced for students and staff.

A team of conservation experts are assessing 184 art pieces including works by leading Irish artists such as Hughie O’Donoghue, Louis le Brocquy and Martin Gale which have been salvaged from UCC’s Glucksman Gallery’s flooded basement store.

“It flooded so quickly it just wasn’t possible to get people into basement to retrieve the works,” said gallery director Fiona Kearney. “We have made some extraordinary saves. We have freeze-dried some of the works on paper before we decide how to treat them.”

Meanwhile, Bord Gáis said it is safe to use gas central heating systems where water from the mains supply has been cut off. But the company warned gas customers not to use domestic hot water until water supplies have been restored because the domestic hot water may run down the level of water in the cylinder.