Co Co on ‘knife’s edge with regard to flooding’

THROUGHOUT the past week, staff from Carlow County Council, assisted by the local civil defence and fire service, have been tackling flood waters throughout the county. Though villages such as Bunclody and Clonegal were badly hit when the River Slaney burst its banks, other urban areas such as Carlow town and Tullow managed to avoid much of the devastation caused by Storm Chandra. 

Over the weekend, the council issued warnings to residents in Carlow town after the River Burrin rose to extraordinary high levels, flooding areas such as the Millrace and Hanover Town Park while also providing sand bags to the affected areas. The situation in both Carlow and Tullow could have been a lot worse if it hadn't been for flood defence systems that were installed several years ago. 

Speaking to The Nationalist, Carlow Co Council chief executive Coilín O’Reilly said the council was “grateful” for the investment made in flood defences in Carlow and Tullow in the past. 

“They have kept us safe to date, but we very much are on a knife edge with regard to flooding. With more rain forecasted, it really is about just ongoing monitoring and having all the reserve systems ready to go, be it water pumps, sandbags, people, scenario planning and so on to make sure that we are ready should the worst occur,” he said.

Carlow Co Council first posted a weather warning and advisory notice on Monday 26 January following a technical briefing with the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management and Met Éireann.

The council warned the public of possible impacts from heavy rainfall on already saturated ground such as localised flooding, river flooding and difficult travelling conditions, while also warning the public of the potential impacts because of the status yellow wind warning for Carlow such as fallen trees, debris and hazardous travel conditions.

As the fallout from Storm Chandra continues, questions are being raised about the effectiveness of Met Eireann’s weather warning alert system, with government ministers criticising the meteorological service for the lack of speed and clarity of communications.

Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather said, in his opinion, the problem is that Met Éireann is “limited in the ability to forecast and communicate in a way that the public are expecting now. It's still very official, very short TV and radio updates, generalised for the whole country.” His social media page digs into localised, raw data from Met Éireann and communicates it directly to an audience of nearly 300,000 people.

Mr O’Reilly questioned the criteria Met Éireann use to issue warnings, which currently only considers the amount of rainfall over a period of time and not its potential impact, given rainfall in previous days and other pre-existing weather conditions.

He further stressed the need for flood forecasts to be made public, as “flood risk can vary and change a lot” depending on where you are along a watercourse. Currently, Met Éireann issues daily flood guidance statements to local authorities, who then disseminate it to the local community.

Anyone who may require assistance in relation to flooding should contact the council’s out-of-hours number on 059 9170300.