Group fears inaction will see area flooded for fourth time

A flood action group has accused city officials of failing to deliver on agreed emergency action measures to prevent future flooding in their area.

The Blackpool Action Group, which was set up to campaign for flood prevention measures after three floods devastated the historic village area on the fringes of Cork City, spoke out yesterday amid fears that the village core remains unprotected.

“The group is frustrated and angry with the lack of action from the council,” a spokesman said.

“The community are fearful as they face into a winter with no flood insurance and no emergency action from the city council.”

They repeated calls for Cork City Council to implement a number of agreed emergency actions to secure the village against further flooding.

Since 2010, the village has been hit by three floods resulting in significant damage to homes and small businesses.

After catastrophic flooding during Jun 2012, the council gave a commitment to the community to repair the river banks at Blackpool Bridge, to put in place an early warning system and to install monitoring cameras.

“None of this emergency work has been done,” the group said. “It has been left to the local community to clean up the river.”

The group said a number of meetings due to take place with local community and business representatives to discuss the emergency actions have been cancelled by the council.

One local business owner, Ger Buckley, who runs the local Centra store, led criticism of the council last night.

“We have already had two flood warnings from Met Éireann this autumn and yet there is still no action from the city council,” he said.

“With the weather getting worse, it is only a matter of time before we get heavy rain.

“Do we have to be flooded for a fourth time for the council to act?

“We are very concerned that by the time the city council act, promised emergency funding from the Office of Public Works will no longer be available.”

The Blackpool Action Group called on the council to deliver on its promised emergency work and to take immediate action to deal with the river banks.

The action group was set up to deal with the aftermath of the flooding to the Blackpool village in 2011. The village core experienced severe flooding in Jun 2011, Jun 2012, and last March.

The council was not available to comment last night.