Don’t forget your shovel if you want to battle bad spells

OVER €500 million in damage, months of work by a team of highly paid state officials, a report that runs to 115 pages — and the advice for householders and businesses beleaguered by bad weather is: buy a shovel.

And keep some disposable barbecue trays handy and a “big blue barrel around the back at the bottom of a down-pipe”.

The report also advises home owners to “check the water supply stopcock, check the winter fuel supply, have a bag of salt in stock, get batteries and a water container or two.”