Council to spend at least €3.5m after storm wreaks havoc in Waterford

The cost of cleaning up and repairing the damage caused by Storm Christine along the Waterford coast in the last fortnight has been conservatively estimated at €3.5m.

The coastal area between Tramore and Dungarvan was badly hit by the storm-force winds and consequent high tides over Christmas and the new year. Council officials and staff are working on a list of repairs that will have to be completed.

According to Tramore area engineer Ken Walsh, the bill is likely to top €3.5m.

“That could go up very easily, depending on the assessment of the damage,” he said yesterday.

During the storm, a sinkhole appeared on Strand Rd in Tramore, close to Carousel Corner. Waterford County Council and contractors have carried out temporary repairs on the Tramore hole and other damaged areas.

The drafting of council workers and contract workers to carry out maintenance work and temporary work while the storm was ongoing prevented an even worse situation, according to Mr Walsh.

“People are comparing it to the storms of 1989 and 1990 but the damage caused in Tramore could have been by far the most serious weather-related infrastructural damage done in the county in living memory, but for what we did in sorting the problems out.”

The storm also wreaked havoc in Dunmore East, Cheekpoint, Passage East, and Dungarvan.

Mr Walsh said declining local government revenue in recent years means “the money isn’t there to carry out these repairs”.

As a result, the council will be depending on money the central Government receives from the EU and, in the meantime, from funds controlled by the Office of Public Works and the Department of Agriculture.