Flood-hit residents demand action over fears area is at risk

Residents hit by a flash flood for the second time in nine months say they are still at risk of another flood unless urgent action is taken.

The residents and business owners in Blackpool, on the outskirts of Cork City, spoke out ahead of a report which is being presented to city councillors tonight on last Thursday’s flood which swamped the historic village core.

City manager Tim Lucey is expected to outline the engineering cause of the flood, the council’s response, and defend its handling of the entire situation.

Water poured over the culvert in Orchard Court at around 9pm last Thursday, sending hundreds of thousands of gallons of water cascading into the village.

Dozens of homes and businesses were swamped by up to four feet of water in less than 15 minutes, trapping two off-licence workers in a store room.

It was the area’s fourth major flood in a decade.

Previous floods have been blamed on debris blocking a culvert trash screen.

But locals say this flood was caused by almost 15-tonnes of rock left in the culvert after it was used to support the weight of a JCB doing engineering works.

Local Centra owner, Jer Buckley, who reckons the latest flood has cost him €50,000, said: “This rock reduced the culvert’s ability to cope with increased rainfall levels and created a mini-dam.”

Community leaders said several things must be done in the short-term to reduce flood risk in Blackpool, pending the drafting of a larger flood prevention plan for the city. They called on City Hall to:

*Immediately organise the removal of the rock from the culvert;

*Step-up maintenance of the culvert and of the river further upstream;

*Remove several tree stumps which have been left in the river near the North Point Business Park.

In the medium term, they want the OPW to accept that the area’s four-metre culverts are too small, and arrange for the installation of eight-metre culverts.