'I’m just devastated': Midleton woman's home floods for second time in Storm Babet
'Everything is gone': Bernie O’Shea at her house in Midleton that was flooded on Wednesday. Picture: Chani Anderson
"Devastated" is how one 62-year-old woman described feeling after her Midleton home was flooded for a second time following the heavy rain brought by Storm Babet.
Bernie O’Shea was at home when her house was flooded after more than a month’s worth of rain fell in Cork in the wake of the storm.
The flooding caused unprecedented damage, with locals in Midleton saying they had seen nothing like it in their lifetimes.
Speaking to the , Ms O’Shea said: “I’m just devastated. I wouldn’t put it any other way. I’m in shock still and I can’t even cry.”
Ms O'Shea recently had a knee operation and requires a crutch to walk. She had to leave the house on Wednesday to get medication in the pharmacy.
“I opened the front door and the water came in. I was going to the chemist to get my pain medication. I opened the door and it all flooded in," she said.
“I’m on crutches at the moment so I was trying to find my way up the road and I dropped my phone into the water, so I couldn’t contact anybody,” she said.
Ms O'Shea was eventually able to make her way to her daughter’s house nearby for assistance.
This was the second time her Midleton home had been flooded.
The first time the house flooded was in 2015, a few months after she moved into the property.
“When I was flooded in 2015, I was able to come in and salvage some things," she said.
“I’m able to salvage some things now but I’m after losing all of my memories of my mom and my dad and my childhood. Everything is gone.”
Ms O'Shea said the water rose particularly high on Wednesday and believes the orange warning issued ahead of the storm should have been higher.
“I’ve never seen it [the water] so high. I was flooded in 2015 and we were able to sweep it out but this time it went into the bed and my bed is very high.
“After the last flooding I got a stainless-steel bed, which is high off the floor, and the water reached my orthopedic mattress on the bed,” Ms O'Shea said.
More rain is due in the area, with a status yellow warning being issued by Met Éireann. That warning came into effect at 11pm on Thursday and is in place until 9am on Friday.
Speaking ahead of the fresh warning, Ms O'Shea said she hopes the right precautions are in place.
“There should have been a red warning [on Wednesday], there should have been something.
“I don’t think we had enough time,” she concluded.
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