Text alerts to give advance flood warnings

Plans have been drawn up to provide text messaging alerts to people who live in high-risk flood areas in Co Cork.

Cork County Council is planning to roll out a service it pioneered in Bandon to other parts of the county to provide people with an early warning.

County engineer Noel O’Keeffe said the local authority would hopefully install the free text alert system in Skibbereen within the next six months and later roll it out along the Blackwater Valley and Lee Valley.

The council developed its own computer-controlled warning system in Bandon and this will be extend to other areas at risk. The computer is connected to sensors in the river upstream of the town and to rainfall monitors.

It can then predict what type of flooding will occur and issue alerts accordingly. A yellow minor alert means some flooding is likely on footpaths near the river.

A yellow high alert means water will pour into the streets but not cause any significant damage.

An orange alert means 1ft-2ft of water flooding into streets and shops causing some damage. A red alert warns of a one-in-800 years flood, as occurred in Nov 2009, which would cause serious damage.

“Our consultants RPS are working on developing the early warning on the River Ilen for Skibbereen. It is a bit more complicated to develop than the Bandon model as there is a tidal influence in that town.

“Nevertheless we hope to have it ready within the next six months,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

Once up-and-running, the system should give people three to four hours advanced warning.

Funding for that has been secured from the OPW. In the meantime, the county engineer has also applied for funding to continue the project along the River Blackwater. He said it was the council’s hope to have that system operational within a year. “Mallow and Fermoy already have flood protection works.

“Our staff already get advanced flood warning to erect the flood prevention barriers. But now we want to extend that warning to the public. We want not only to provide it for the people of those towns but also villagers who live near the river,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

The council is also working on providing a text alert system for the Lee Valley, but this will take longer to develop. “We will be putting an inter-agency group together comprising of the county council, city council, Port of Cork, ESB, Met Éireann and the OPW to develop that.

“The influences on flooding in Cork are more varied. You have the [Inniscarra] dam and rivers which flow into the Lee to consider,” the county engineer said.

He hoped the system would be ready within a couple of years.