‘We spent day getting rid of dirt and filth’

Music shop Pro-Musica has been trading on Oliver Plunkett St for 30 years — but Tuesday night was the worst flooding they had seen in some time.

Even though they had sandbags at the door, 3ft of water still poured into the premises through its walls, drains and shopfront.

The clean-up won’t be complete until the shop’s wooden fittings have dried out, and even though they lifted all stock, they are still expecting repair works to cost up to €10,000.

Customers filed in to buy music notes and collect instruments, while the staff were still brushing sodden floors and washing down walls and shelves.

The same staff had spent from 11pm until 8am yesterday bailing water out with buckets. The shop can’t get flood insurance.

Trader after trader in the streets between South Mall and Oliver Plunkett St all expressed concern that the flood water had taken hours to recede after high tide, asking why wasn’t the drainage system working?

“We’ve just spent the day trying to get rid of the dirt and filth. We hadn’t seen anything this bad in seven or eight years and we’d thought that this improvement was due to the Cork Main Drainage works. But here we go again, it is something that we have come to expect on this street and I don’t know if it’s something we will ever prevent. The difference now is that there is more support from the council,” manager Eileen Dennehy said.

“The city council took all our damaged stock on Monday and we had no shortage of sandbags on Tuesday night. One council worker stayed with me through the night bailing water out.”

Sheena McCarthy, of Sheena’s Boutique, said her father, Frankie Walsh, and brother, Pat, spent almost two hours bailing water with buckets from the shop entrance in an effort to halt the flow of water into the premises.

“We have some electrical damage but we hope to be open this morning.”

Two minutes away on Princes St, cheesemonger, Sean Calder-Potts and his wife Josephine, were having their first experience of city centre flooding.

They relocated their Iago shop from the English Market in December.

“We had flood-proofed the shop by putting in a sealed waterproof floor that skirts up against the wall for about 25cm-30cm and all electrics were deliberately raised.

“Nonetheless, water did get in in spite of the sandbags and flood defences but we bailed it out for up to two hours and so it never got over the level of the sealed floor.”

Next door is O’Connor’s Shoes, where two kayakers were filmed paddling around the shop’s drowned interior. Paul O’Connor said this week’s flooding was the worst the business had seen in 17 years. He hasn’t traded properly since Monday and he had to take up his wooden floor for the first time.

“This issue can’t be politicised. We need flood protection and flood prevention prioritised at national level.”

At Minihan’s chemist, owner and former councillor, John Minihan was also pondering why it had taken so long for the water levels to drop last night. He said it was 12.30am before he could move sandbags from his door.

“The city council has introduced an early warning system in recent years but there are still some things that they need to take on board from Tuesday night. Number one, why weren’t the drains clear so that the flood water could run out after high tide? They need to make sure that drains aren’t blocked. Also, they could have managed the sandbags distribution better. They need to learn from that.”

Claire Nash, whose restaurant was destroyed just days after its 22nd anniversary, said she would love to show OPW Minister Brian Hayes the extent of the damage.

“I rang City Hall earlier and asked when is the next flood alert, and they said next Saturday. So if I do all the repairs now, and reopen, I could be in here again on Sunday with another flood. Providing flood defences is a long-term project, there is no quick answer, I’m not blaming anyone but this is a serious problem. And it needs to be addressed.”