In the wake of Storm Frank, Waterford’s local political representatives have declared a ‘State of Crisis’ throughout the county, as the City & County Council Executive commenced the initial phase of an unprecedented repair and remediation project.
The ‘crisis’ motion, which was tabled by Cllr Jason Murphy and seconded in double quick time by his Fianna Fáil colleague Michael J O’Ryan, won unanimous support from the Council body at last Tuesday’s Emergency Meeting held in Dungarvan.
The meeting, called by City & County Mayor John Cummins (FG), was informed of the immense difficulties experienced by residents in the east, west, mid-county and coastal areas, with the initial estimate on damages totalling €11.4 million.
Within that estimate, Council Director of Services (for Roads) Paul Daly said that just over €2 million worth of damage had been estimated along the county’s coastline, taking in the Annestown, Bonmahon and Dunmore East areas.
Detailing the Council’s activity in response to the atrocious weather, Mr Daly revealed that local authority staff had put in 8,200 additional man hours in response to the 50 alerts recorded over the whole of December.
The cost of those additional hours has been estimated to be in the region of €340,000 to €350,000, which the Council hopes will be funded via its emergency application to central government.
And in response to the extensive flooding throughout County Waterford, a total of 8,500 sandbags were filled and distributed to affected communities.
As of Tuesday last, January 5th, there were still 24 road closures across Waterford, and when one considers that there were 25 road closures recorded over the course of December, Storm Frank’s impact was starkly and literally illustrated.
In arguably the standout comment of a meeting hardly lacking in revelation, Mr Daly stated: “At one stage on Wednesday (December 30th), there was no access to West Waterford from the Dungarvan direction,” Mr Daly continued. “None…and that isn’t an acceptable situation.”
During the coming weeks and months, Mr Daly said that the Council would have to take into account incidences likely “to reoccur again the next time we get into a flood situation”.
These include the Cork Road and Inner Ring Road in the city, the (Aglish) Glass Factory road in Dungarvan, the approach to Tallow and the Clonmel Road at Finger Post, “and if these (flooding) events are going to become more frequent, then we need to get ahead of them”.
Mr Daly said a “better diversion route” than the N72 Dungarvan to Tralee road (via Cappoquin and Lismore on the banks of the Blackwater) would have to be engineered to ensure the unimpeded movement of traffic between Waterford, Cork and South Tipperary. And he confirmed that “an engineering solution” at the Saratoga Bar site in Woodstown (flooded two weeks ago) was possible in the long term, “but it required money to do it”.
Waterford City & County Council is seeking €11.4m in emergency funding from central government in the wake of Storm Frank.