Deluge puts spotlight on flooding
Between the summer of 2009 and the summer of 2010, Ireland experienced a remarkable run of weather disasters and freak natural occurrences. The summer of 2009 broke all sorts of rainfall records, while November was the wettest month in more than two centuries in many parts of the country.
To make things worse, we were hit a short time later by snow, frost and temperatures that fell to be below -15° Centigrade. Some of this extreme weather – the high summer rainfall in particular – was not supposed to happen if projections on climate change were correct. If anything, we are supposed to have much drier summers as the century progresses.
Kieran Hickey, a geography lecturer in NUI Galway, who has emerged as a regular media commentator on weather, has been closely examining recent events.
Though the largely fine summer of 2010 compensated in some way for what happened the previous summer, Hickey is not sure whether we are in for a pattern of wet summer weather and says the next few summers will tell.
The wet summer of 2009 set the scene for subsequent winter flooding as the normal drop in lake and river levels did not take place and there was little spare capacity when more heavy rain came, creating the ideal scenario for major floods. Indeed, he points out, the only surprise is that this did not happen in the previous two summers when conditions were much the same.
The weather story in Ireland from 2009 to 2010 is the subject of a book penned by Hickey, aptly titled, Deluge. In it, he devotes a chapter to the flooding in Cork city and county, referring to the long history of flood events dating back to the foundation of the city and its low-lying location.
“Miraculously, no one lost their life, but that was more by good fortune rather than any other factor,” he opines.
The history of flooding in Cork is traced back to one of the earliest recorded floods, in 1633. There was also an event in 1960 which has had a recent resonance – it was partly caused by the release of water from the Inniscarra ESB dam, he notes.
Flooding in the Glucksman Gallery, UCC, is also dealt with. Hickey describes it as a clear example of the flood problems in many parts of the country and says it was a big mistake to build the gallery in that location – a former floodplain close to the south channel of the Lee.
Obviously, he welcomes a review of operations at the Inniscarra dam aimed at preventing future flooding, as well communications between the ESB and local authorities and the people of Cork, who suffered the most.
He also emphasises the review will have to be done in the light of predicted increases in winter rainfall, especially 48-hour, severe downpours which are expected to become more common and the ones most likely to cause flooding.
“In addition, the granting of a whole series of planning permissions for important buildings on known and active floodplains is beyond comprehension and was a recipe for disaster,” Hickey states.
Interestingly, the cost of the November flood in Cork, reckoned by some to be as high as €145 million, almost exactly matches the estimated cost of flood defences for the city, he points out.
Mother Nature also threw up some strange events, such as a minor earthquake in Co Clare and the volcanic eruption in Iceland which caused chaos in air travel throughout western Europe.
The volcano showed how isolated we can be and how dependant we are on air travel. As a result, Hickey makes a novel suggestion – time to seriously consider a landbridge between Ireland and Britain! In his conclusion, he reiterates how our planning system failed badly to prevent flooding, much to the cost of people who bought houses in flood-prone areas. Stronger and better-financed local authorities are needed to deal with the real problems on the ground, he urges.
Despite all the negativity, something positive does emerge from this well-researched weather story – the sense of community that still exists in Ireland, reflected in the way people, whether individually or through various agencies and voluntary services, responded so magnificently to the crises.
It’s the pictures of people in boats going to the aid of their neighbours, of taking others into their homes, and the iconic images of the farmer in the West standing alone waving his hands in the air, surrounded by water on all sides.
* Deluge, Ireland’s weather disasters 2009-2010, by Kieran Hickey, is published by Four Courts Press, €14.95.
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