Cork on flood alert as Clonakilty hit
The worst-affected area was Clonakilty in West Cork, with a number of streets impassible for a time.
The road to Timoleague was also flooded in places.
However, as the flood waters receded last night it became evident that damage was minimal, and nothing like the devastation the town suffered during three major floods last year.
However, fears of serious flood damage caused the town’s mayor, Councillor Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, to cancel the annual Spirit of Clonakilty Awards, which were scheduled to take place last night.
Elsewhere in West Cork, flash floods took their toll, particularly in Barryroe where a stream burst its banks, flooding the main road. Workers from the town’s co-op, supermarket, and feed mill, along with office workers, came together to install sandbags and protect their premises.
The road from Argideen Haven was also underwater when a river burst its bank. Council excavation machines helped to clear flood water in Darrara, Ring, and Barryroe.
“It’s an awful way for people to have to live with the continued risk of flooding,” Fine Gael councillor John O’Sullivan said last night as he surveyed the area.
Closer to Cork City, all train services between Cobh and the city were cancelled last night after a landslide at Rushbrooke.
“An embankment subsided and blocked part of the track within the vicinity of Rushbrooke station,” an Irish Rail spokeswoman said last night. “It was a localised problem and the Midleton line was not affected.”
A bus transfer service was in operation and normal rail services were expected to resume from noon today.
In Riverstown, a low-lying suburb on the northside of Cork City, homeowners were putting out sandbags. Many residents of the Meadowbrook estate recently returned to their homes after floods devastated the estate last June.
