Watch: RTÉ assesses damage to Cork offices from burst water mains

A crew from Cork City Council attended to make repairs to the section of damaged pipe on Parliament Street. Picture: Larry Cummins

RTÉ says it is assessing the damage to its Cork offices after a major pipe burst left several buildings badly damaged, and left large parts of the city without water.

It was one of two burst pipe incidents that occurred in the city at around the same time on Wednesday.

The most significant incident occurred on Parliament St just after lunchtime where an old cast iron mains pipe burst, rupturing the road surface, and sent water cascading down the street onto the South Mall, and around onto Grand Parade.

The initial torrent flowed into at least three properties but did not cause extensive damage.

There were reports that internal pipes in several buildings in the area also burst around the same, causing internal flooding, most likely as a result of increased water pressure in the system arising out of extensive pipe replacement works in the area.

RTÉ's southern regional studios on Fr Mathew St were among the buildings damaged by the internal flooding.

A spokesperson said they are assessing the damage, which occurred in an upstairs area, but which has caused damage to lower floors, but confirmed that production output from the studios is not affected.

The outage affected water supply to homes and businesses on the South Mall, Grand Parade, Morrison’s Island, South Terrace, Parliament Bridge, Rutland Square, Douglas Street, and surrounding areas.

Parliament St was closed off for some time and diversions were put in place while the incident was dealt it. Picture: Larry Cummins

Another smaller pipe burst occurred on South Terrace but it is understood no properties were affected.

Units of Cork City Fire Brigade, gardaí, as well as crews from Uisce Éireann and Cork City Council, responded to both incidents and were able to shut off the water supply quickly.

Parliament St was closed off for some time and diversions were put in place while the incident was dealt it.

The burst has left a large crater in the road surface, and the left lane will remain closed off for some time, pending repairs.

Repair works are complex

Uisce Éireann has been working for several weeks on a major mains replacement scheme as part of the Cork City South Quays project in the city centre. It is not clear if these bursts are linked to that work.

It said crews have been dispatched to carry out repair works, and every effort is being made to complete this work as quickly as possible.

“Given the location of the burst, the repair works are complex,” a spokesperson said.

“The current estimated restoration time is 8.35pm today but it may take a number of hours after this for normal supply to return to all customers.” 

The utility had advised earlier about a disruption to water supply from 11.30pm to 3.30am on Wednesday to facilitate the work.

The utility is working in partnership with Cork City Council to replace 4.2km of old cast iron watermains with modern pipes on the South Quays.

The areas affected by the outage later will include Sullivan’s Quay, Cove Street, Meade Street, Travers Street, Abbey Street, Mary Street, Margaret Street, Douglas Street, Georges Quay, Dunbar Street, Red Abbey Street, Needham Place, Sawmill Street, Union Quay, Copley Street, South Terrace, Anglesea Street, Anglesea Terrace, Hibernian Road and surrounding areas.

Up to 2,000 customers may be impacted by water interruptions and low pressure.