‘If it wasn’t for my dog, I’d be dead’

A WIDOWER who lost everything but his dog in the Cork flood has pleaded with the city manager to ensure a proper disaster emergency plan is put in place.

“If it wasn’t for my dog, J, I could have drowned,” Mardyke resident Eric Sorensen, 60, said.

“It was only by the grace of God and luck that no one was killed.

“I got no warning whatsoever. No one came around to see if I was OK that morning. And no one has called since.

“There didn’t seem to be any coordination. They must look at communications and how they will handle something like this in the future.”

And he laid the blame for the flood squarely at the door of the ESB. “This happened because too much water was let out of the dam.”

The Mardyke was swamped by a mini tsunami in the early hours of November 20 after the release of millions of tonnes of flood waters from the Inniscarra Dam.

The flood engulfed the entire Mardyke area as Mr Sorensen slept, swamping his home with up to four feet of water.

He was woken at 6.30am by J, who patted him on the head. It was only when Mr Sorensen jumped out of his bed into three-and-a-half-feet of water that he realised the gravity of the situation.

“I thought the dam had burst,” he told 96FM yesterday.

He has lived on the Mardyke for 34 years. His family has links to the area for over half a century. He said he has never seen anything like it.

He waded from his house in darkness carrying J on his head. Despite breaking two ribs, he battled strong currents while crossing a road under almost five feet of freezing water and finally made it to safety near University College Cork before phoning his son for help.

He has been living in temporary accommodation since and fears his house may have to be demolished.

“The house and material things can be replaced,” the proud and independent man said.

But he was heartbroken to find treasured photographs of his wife, Mary, who died just last year, and their wedding album, damaged by the flood waters.

He marked her anniversary nine days after the flood.

“The photographs were saturated. My daughter is drying them out and some have been destroyed but, hopefully, some can be saved. J is all I have left,” he said.

“What really annoys me is that no one called to me that morning to see if I was alive or dead. If it wasn’t for my dog, I’d be dead.”