Why were we not warned about the perfect flood?

IT STRUCK without warning, leaving a trail of destruction and human misery in its wake. The river Lee burst its banks in the early hours of last Friday morning after millions of tonnes of water were released from the Inniscarra Dam, eight miles west of Cork city.

The torrent was of the order of three million tonnes – three times the volume of water flowing through the Mississippi on a daily basis.

The decision taken by the ESB after rising water levels came within an inch of the top of the dam was to have catastrophic effects on the city sleeping below.