Cork flood relief: Design work to begin by mid-2015

Detailed design work on the Cork City flood relief scheme is expected to start before the middle of 2015, based on feedback from the latest phase which begins today.

The public are being encouraged to attend an information day from 2pm to 9pm at Cork City Hall, where representatives of the Office of Public Works (OPW) design team and environmental consultants will answer questions about the proposals. While finer details will not emerge until after this latest consultation phase, it is the first chance to see the level of forecasting, warning systems and infrastructural developments planned to help prevent a repeat of the severe damage that has affected homes and businesses over the last five years in particular.

A number of flood events have devastated the city centre since the November 2009 flood which followed the release of record levels of water from the EBS hydroelectric dam at Inniscarra after days of heavy rain. As recently as last February, the city centre was swamped after a combination of heavy rain and high tides, leaving the business community impatient for action on defence systems.