Council workers in Cork on flood alert for weekend

Workers from Cork City and county councils will remain on flood alert for the next few days as high tides threaten coastal areas.

Flood warnings were put in place last night as businesses in the city centre set about protecting their properties with sandbags and floodgates.

The main areas of concern centred again on the central island around Union Quay and Morrison’s Quay, while roads in the area were closed off as a precautionary measure.

However, following high tide yesterday evening, emergency services said there appeared to have been no damage.

Jim O’Donovan, head of the city council’s environment department, said while there was “ponding” flooding from the heavy rain, there was little tidal flooding from the rising tide. He said there was street flooding at Union Quay and Morrison’s Quay but not enough to damage properties.

He said city council employees would remain on call until Sunday night, when the high tides are expected to recede. “We will be on-call all weekend and we will mobilise whatever staff and equipment are needed,” he said.

A Cork County Council spokesman said it had also mobilised staff after getting a weather warning from the Office of Public Works that high tides with a coastal surge of 0.3m are predicted for the next couple of days.

“We had a meeting of our Serious Assessment Weather Team midweek and decided to put our workers on alert for the next few days,” the spokesman said.

He said while all low-lying coastal areas are potentially under threat, most attention was likely to be on Youghal and Bantry which had fallen victim in the past to tidal flooding.

Skibbereen and Clonakilty also suffered in recent years, but normally it required a combination of heavy rain, winds, and high tides to trigger floods there.