Bunclody resident describes devastation of flooding on Ryland Road 

DIANE Doran was coming back from the gym last Tuesday when she and her husband noticed water was bubbling up out of the drains on Ryland Road, Bunclody, where she owns three houses.

She ran to workers from Wexford County Council in the village to get sandbags and some help in directing traffic away from the road. But authorities’ attention was focused downstream, on Enniscorthy, where the situation was becoming serious.

“I screamed for help and they didn’t come,” said Diane.

Trucks and cars travelling at speed through the rapidly rising water on Ryland Road were sending waves of water into the cottages, which had been hastily protected by the residents with coal bags filled with sand.

John Renwick was one of those driving along Ryland Road that morning, They only comprehended the situation when they looked over the wall to where there was usually a field. The floodplain looked like a lake. “It was like being in a nightmare, an end of the world scenario,” said John.

“We were driving in water that was too deep to be driving a car in, but I had no choice,” he recalled. He managed to get through the pool of water and park in a dry car park. But then he was stuck on the other side of town.

He first tried to hitch a lift with trucks passing by, but “quickly gave up on that,” he said. John took off his shoes, put them around his shoulder, popped his socks in his top pocket, rolled his trousers up and decided to head barefoot into the murky water.

“Straight away, my feet were totally frozen. My legs got numb. I could feel whatever contents had been washed off out of the river under my feet. I wondered will I get a fish swimming in against me,” said John. The water had risen just below his waist. By the time he waded out, he was “absolutely drenched. My trousers were so dark they looked like overalls.” He came across Diane directing traffic and described her as being “so brave.” Diane stood on the road until 11am, watching the water rise above her knees and pour into the houses. The fire station dropped one pallet of sandbags from Carlow Co Council to the road at 10.30am, but otherwise, locals were on their own.

As the water came over the sandbags at the doors, they began moving furniture upstairs. Then water started coming in around the back. “The water was not even water anymore, it was just black sewage,” said Diane.

Later that day, seven of the families affected were offered two nights’ emergency accommodation at Hazeltree Lodge on Bunclody golf course by Wexford Co Council. The community arranged St Aidan’s hall as a ‘sitting room’ for affected people to have a cup of tea, charge their phones and arrange paperwork for the humanitarian assistance grant.

Diane estimates the total cost of the damage to her three properties, two of which are rented out, to be around €100,000. They will avail of insurance cover and grants, but she noted that this will not protect them into the future: “We get one good shot of it now and we'll never get flood insurance again, I'd say.” “It's just totally devastating,” said Diane. “I haven't slept properly since this happened.” The flood came as a complete shock to Diane, who is from the Bunclody area. Older people in the town said that the only comparable flood was in 1963, when a boat carried children from the convent school across the river back to their homes.

Bunclody is not on the waiting list for a small-scale flood relief scheme, despite maps showing that Ryland Road is at risk of being flooded at least once every 100 years. Diane said she has had promises from senator Cathal Byrne and local councillor Barbara-Anne Murphy that this will change.

But all these promises and plans remain “too little too late” for Ryland Road, said Diane.