Families rescued from flooding in Wexford as Storm Ciarán approaches

Coastguard volunteer Alan Duggan standing outside a house on the Haven estate in Rosslare, Co Wexford. Picture: Jim Codd/PA Wire

A Wexford Coast Guard dinghy was used to rescue people from their flooded homes as the early effects of Storm Ciarán hit Ireland. 

Met Éireann issued an advisory for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, saying there will be "heavy showers or longer spells of rain at times over Ireland, with flooding likely in places".

Later Wednesday and on Thursday, Storm Ciarán will bring falls of heavy rain and strong winds. "Current indications suggest the heaviest rain and strongest winds will be in Munster and Leinster, with flooding likely," it said.

It comes as a status yellow rainfall warning has been issued for Co Kerry from 12pm on Tuesday until 12pm on Wednesday.

On Monday, the effects of the flooding were felt in Wexford when homes in the Haven estate in Rosslare were in 3ft of water.

Local Coast Guard volunteer Alan Duggan told RTÉ's Morning Ireland he received a call to assist the council, so he and his cousin used their own dinghy to rescue people.

“I walked in chest waders and the water was up to my waist outside of someone’s front door,” he said.

“We got a family of four out and then there was a 70-year-old gentleman who was looking after a house for a friend of his, so we got him out as well.” 

The children they rescued had been more excited than nervous, he said. 

“They’d never seen anything like this and probably never thought they were going to have to be rescued in a dinghy when they're down for their holidays for the weekend.” 

Mr Duggan said he had visited the estate on Tuesday morning where two pumps were working to extract the flood water, but it will be “another few days” before it is cleared.

He said it is the worst flooding in that area he has witnessed. It used to “get damp a bit in one corner” when he lived in the estate from 2003 to 2010. But a nearby canal has not been cleared out for some time, he said, which probably accounted for blocked drains and the subsequent flooding.

Local councillor Jim Codd visited the scene on Monday and he said flooding incidents were becoming more commonplace in recent years in south Wexford.

Mr Codd said more needed to be done to ensure drains and canals were properly cleared and dredged so heavy rainfall had somewhere to escape to.

“We have people who are petrified now every time there is a fall of rain and the impact this is having on our roads is also horrendous as it’s tearing up the roads over and over again,” said the Aontú representative.

Jim Codd in a dinghy on the Haven estate in Rosslare, Co Wexford. Picture: Jim Codd/PA Wire

“Those that currently have insurance for homes will not get it again and many of the people in the areas I represent cannot now get insurance, even in cases when they themselves might not have been flooded, but they live close to the floods. This is turning people’s lives upside down.”

Met Éireann forecaster Gerry Murphy has warned Storm Ciarán will “further exacerbate flooding problems” in some parts of Munster and Leinster.

He told RTÉ the storm is going to push to the south along the south coast of Ireland on Wednesday night and into Thursday. 

"And the main impact that that will have over Ireland is that it's going to push rain up mainly over Munster and Leinster. So the possibility then of some further heavy falls on Wednesday night into Thursday in part of Munster and Leinster. And this too will further exacerbate flooding problems in these areas.” 

Mr Murphy pointed out that in some areas saturated river levels were already very high, like a bucket that was overflowing with more water being poured into it.

Storm Ciarán will mean more rain on already flooded ground. 

“So in a normal situation, we would possibly be issuing perhaps a yellow level rainfall warning in relation to that. But having said that, given the fact that the water levels are so high, the fact that there is flooding in places already, as we've alluded to, then, then there is a threat of more significant flooding as a result."