Inability of watercourses to deal with rain to blame

THE inability of watercourses to deal with prolonged intense rainfall was a primary cause of the recent widespread flooding in Cork City — and not the non-cleaning of gullies or drains.

The localised concentrated nature of the rainfall was “unpredictable and unprecedented”, a review of the flooding has found.

Met Éireann records confirm over 30mm fell in three hours from midnight, with 18.3mm between 1am-2am across Cork City and surrounding area.