Flooding crisis must precipitate real action when waters recede

There weren’t many left without power for too long, despite some of the worst wind in recent years, writes Fergus Finlay

WHAT a week or so that was. There were times when it seemed as if our country was slowly drowning. I saw the Barrow and the Nore in full flood as if Noah himself was coming. I saw water lapping over the main road bridge in Enniscorthy, a good 2m higher than I’ve ever seen it before. I saw water cascading down the main streets of towns in Wicklow and Wexford and Kilkenny as if the apocalypse had arrived.

On the news we all saw exhausted residents and townspeople battling to save their homes, and coping with what seemed like irreparable damage. As storm after storm raged through the countryside it often seemed like it would never end.