€12m Clonakilty flood defence plan to begin in autumn

Work on a €12.1m plan to erect flood defences in a Co Cork town should get under way next autumn, according to OPW Minister Simon Harris.

He was in Clonakilty yesterday to launch public consultation on the plan, which involves providing defences against river and tidal flooding. These will include raising local roads in places, building embankments, erecting flood walls around 1.1m high and putting in storage areas which can retain up to 400,000 cubic metres of water.

Clonakilty has suffered from severe flooding 10 times since 1961, with three major episodes in 2012 — one of which on June 28 was bigger than a one-in-200-year event.