'We just can’t wait anymore': Cork community builds its own flood defences
The residents of Tulligbeg, Ballinhassig, Cork, applaud excavator drivers Tony Walsh and Darragh Collins for building their flood defence embankment over the last week.
Meet the flood-stricken community who felt so forgotten by the State that they took flood defence work into their own hands.
“We just couldn’t take anymore,” said Denny Finn, as he watched the finishing touches being put on Monday to the huge new embankment which has been built around their homes just outside Ballinhassig, west of Cork City, in just over a week.
Denny and his neighbours in the eight adjoining homes at Tulligbeg, on the banks of the Owenabue river, are still dealing with flood damage eight weeks on from Storm Babet, their third flood since 2009.
But they said the community-funded DIY flood defence project has given them peace of mind.
While there was a glimmer of hope on Monday with confirmation that consultants have finally been appointed to design a flood relief scheme for the area, the residents said it could be years before it is delivered.
“We just can’t wait anymore,” Denny said.
Denny, who has lived in the area for 71 years, and his brother, Derry, who has lived there for 73 years, know that stretch of the Owenabue better than most. As children, they played on its banks and fished it for salmon.
Denny said flooding was never an issue in the valley until after the N71 from Bishopstown to Bandon was upgraded, and ditches were removed from the fields above the valley floor.
“The water comes down the valley at speed now. It’s coming too fast when there is heavy rain, there is nothing to hold it back, and the river can’t take it,” he said.
In times of heavy rain, the river backs up at Paddy’s Bridge, just a few hundred feet downstream of the homes, and bursts its banks, flooding the gardens of the eight homes at Tulligbeg.
The householders built their own individual embankments over the years and managed to hold back the water with the help of pumps.
But in 2009, there was just too much water, and the homes flooded. And it happened again in 2015 and again last October.
Derry said: “Storm Babet was the final straw. We had enough. We can’t take anymore. Denny put in a new kitchen three months ago, and it’s gone.
“Mine was put in in 2015, and that’s gone. All the doors, all my flooring has to come up. We had to do something.”
Some of the householders were still living on concrete floors, afraid to fit new kitchens, install white goods, lay tiles, wooden floors, or carpets in case their homes flooded again.
A week after Storm Babet, they met with the authorities in Carrigaline seeking an update on the State’s flood defence scheme, which was delayed earlier this year when it was decided that submitted tenders for consultancy work were deemed “not to offer value for money”, and the tender process started again.
The people of Ballinhassig decided that was it — that they would not let their neighbours suffer another flood, and so the Ballinhassig Village Association launched a GoFundMe to fund their own flood defence scheme.
Its chairman, Denis McCarthy, said when they embarked on the fundraising drive, they didn’t know how much the work was going to cost.
“But we were adamant it was going to be done,” he said.
Excavators moved on site last Monday and thanks to the landowners on either side of the row of houses, the Rice and Dennehy families, local contractor Danny O’Callaghan began building a 250m-long, 1.5m to 1.8m-high clay embankment, which runs along the bottom of each garden.
Built using fill material, supplied by Keohanes, for which no permit was required, it wraps around the properties in a horseshoe shape.
Denny’s wife, Marie, said after more than a decade of worry about flooding, she now has peace of mind.
“Now I feel safe. Maybe this week now I can start thinking about Christmas,” she said, stressing how grateful she is to the local community for helping them.
“I don’t know if there is a word for it, how they came in behind us, we wouldn’t have been able to do it, only for that,” she said.
However, all the residents complained about the red tape involved in accessing the Government’s humanitarian fund, administered by the Red Cross.
“We got €600 to feed us, and some money for bed damage. That’s it so far,” Derry said.
His wife, Bernie, said they have to get two quotations for everything, before their applications can be considered, and trying to get builders, plumbers, and electricians to call has been very difficult.
Their neighbour John McGuane still has a dehumidifier going in his house, eight weeks on. He won’t be back in the house for Christmas.
"I didn’t think I could go through this one,” he said.
“The last time we got flooded we lost all our appliances, €6,000 worth, so we made a big effort to save them this time. We managed to save them because we elevated them on the day.
“But the kitchen has to be replaced and we are looking now for floor coverings that can endure a flood should it happen again.
“The council and the OPW need to get their act together and progress their scheme at speed.”
His daughter, Kate, said the entire debacle is very disheartening for residents, most of whom are in their 60s and 70s.
“It’s just not acceptable. Councillors need to pull up their socks, they need to do more,” she said.
Mr McCarthy said he hopes what has happened in Ballinhassig will inspire other flood-prone communities who are waiting for flood defences.
He said any money left in the GoFundMe after the work is paid for will be deposited in the village’s accident and emergency fund which was established almost 20 years ago after a local woman was killed in a tragic accident overseas — a fund which has been used to help many local people over the years.
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