Homeowners 'absolutely terrified' for the day ahead amid more rain warnings

Eva Osborne

Homeowners have real concerns for the day ahead after flooding in the wake of Storm Chandra is set to be exacerbated after Met Éireann issued more rain warnings for Friday.

Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, and Waterford came under a status yellow rain warning at 12pm. It will expire at midnight.

Met Éireann is warning that further heavy rain and showers falling on saturated ground, combined with high river levels, will lead to localised flooding, river flooding, and difficult travel conditions.

Meanwhile, in the north, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Derry will be under a status yellow rain warning until 6pm.

Mayor of South Dublin County Council, Pamela Kearns, said homeowners are "absolutely terrified" because of what they have gone through already.

Speaking on Newstalk, she said: "There was an elderly lady there and my heart broke for her. She was just crying, she was cold. She had no heating, no electricity.

"We're worried for her and for everybody up there and we're going to do our best to prevent anymore fooding up there but the rain we had should not have caused all the damage it has.

"But because we've had so much rain for a full week in advance, the ground is saturated."

The extensive flooding in communities in Wexford and south Dublin forced some families to flee their homes and caused damage to businesses.

A number of local shops, cafes, and restaurants in Enniscorthy have yet to reopen, with some fearing they may have to close their businesses permanently.

The town's largest hotel, the Riverside Park, will stay closed until tomorrow at the earliest due to power outages and flood damage.

Speaking on Newstalk, President of Wexford Chamber of Commerce, Ed Murphy, said many impacted businesses do not have insurance.

"Because of the amount of Government reports that have been done on Enniscorthy as a flood risk, now no insurnace companies will touch the businesses and therefore they have no insurance," he said.

"Now they've again got flooded. It's the 12th flood in 25 years."

Motorists are being advised to remain cautious on the roads due to localised flooding and difficult driving conditions.

Wexford County Council chief executive Eddie Taaffe said: “We’re not out of the danger period."

He told RTE Radio’s Morning Ireland that it had been a “very difficult week” and that, while water levels were rising, they were only rising “relatively slow” since Thursday afternoon.

“We remain vigilant, we’re expecting more rain tonight, we’re under a yellow warning alert again, we’re not out of the period of danger, and the next 48 hours I suppose we’re on high flood alert in Enniscorthy and Bunclody.

“We are expecting more rain so the next 48 hours we would ask people to be vigilant and we would ask people throughout the county to take care while driving.”

Residents have been warned to prepare for more flooding as further heavy rain is forecast over the bank holiday weekend.

Clean-up operations continued amid the threat of more rain in some of the worst-affected towns, like Enniscorthy and Aughrim, and areas in South Dublin.

These areas were on the itinerary for Minister of State for the Office of Public Works Kevin “Boxer” Moran on Thursday, as he assessed some of the flood damage after Storm Chandra.

An emergency response payment has been made available to those living in properties directly affected by flooding, while businesses can avail of the emergency humanitarian flooding scheme.

Earlier in the week, heavy winds and torrential rain caused significant disruption across the island of Ireland, including power outages, flight cancellations and rail disruptions as well as 300 school closures in Northern Ireland.

Up to 20,000 properties were without power at the peak of Storm Chandra.

The scale of the flooding in some areas has heaped pressure on forecaster Met Éireann, the Government and local authorities over whether the warnings were sufficient.

Minister for Housing and Local Government, James Browne, said that information should not be “guarded” and he had asked Met Éireann to look at how they assess what level of weather warning is warranted.

The Wexford TD told South East Radio’s Morning Mix, during the week, that Met Éireann needed to improve communications and said he was “really frustrated that some state agencies seem to think that it’s their duty to somehow withhold information”.

Additional reporting PA.