Residents and business owners in Enniscorthy, Wexford, are “sick to the teeth” of floods devastating their homes and livelihoods.
Around 350 properties in the town were affected on Monday during Storm Chandra, when the River Slaney burst its banks. Dozens of families had to be evacuated, with some residents even being saved by rescue teams from the second floor of their homes.
A massive clean-up operation is now underway in the town. Today, roads on either side of the river were blocked, flooded cars were abandoned, and restaurants, pubs, and shops were closed.
Maureen Peare, 75, had to move into her sister’s house after the ground floor of her home on the Island Road was completely devastated by the flood. She said: “This is my sixth (flood), the first one I had was in 1965 and that was the worst one, that was six or seven feet.
“My whole ground floor is flooded. My suite is on a coffee table and a television table, my two armchairs are in my front sitting room window, I couldn’t move my wardrobe or dressing table.”
Also on the Island Road, where all residents had to flee after over four feet of water tumbled into their homes, Mary Ellen and Helena McNamara were sweeping the roads of debris. The sisters grew up in one of the terraced houses, where their 90-year-old brother now lives.
Helena said: “10 years ago it happened before, at what point do they decide enough is enough? People’s lives are important, even if their life is not at risk this happens every time we have huge rain they are going through this.
“It’s absolutely devastating. It’s not always monetary value, you are losing precious things, things that we had from our mother, we were all born in this house so each time there is a flood we are losing more memories, more photos, things we had from our childhood.”
But it’s nothing new for the sisters, whose family has lived in the house for generations, as Enniscorthy residents have been screaming for a flood relief scheme for decades. Since 2000, there have been nine major floods in the area and while a €55m flood relief scheme was approved for the area in 2014, a planning application was rejected for environmental reasons over protected freshwater pearl mussels.
Helena said after the damage Storm Chandra caused, politicians will be down “for their photo opportunities” but then it will all be forgotten. She added: “I would say to them: ‘Get yourself into one of these houses and we will leave you there until you can learn how to approve of things, when you’ve been flooded a few times maybe you’ll realise what it’s like to have your life turned upside down.
“They will forget about it until the river comes up and then everyone goes through the same thing and it will be what they would have done, should have done and they still don’t.” At the top of the road, the Top Oil Tyreworld Service Station and shop have been destroyed by the flood.
Products such as crisps and drinks fill the floor as owner Ronan Furlong suspects tens of thousands worth of damage. The owner and his staff had to quickly scramble to save equipment on Tuesday morning, as the water came in quickly and fast.
He explained: “Rapidly we were trying to get stuff up in the shop, computers and stuff like that. We were trying to get some of the machines up but the water was coming in too quickly. We sort of knew it was coming but not until yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, around lunchtime, even the residents on the street didn’t know it was coming in.
“It came in so rapidly at 5am or 6am and we couldn’t get stuff out. The mess afterwards is the problem. All the fridges are gone, counters overturned. It’s heart breaking. There are friends, suppliers, customers, people in the town, the community is brilliant, there would be 100 people here to give a hand but really it’s preventing that we want.”
In just replacing the tyre machines alone that were destroyed in his garage, Ronan believes it will cost €50,000- €60,000. Next door, at L&M Motors, John Leacy predicts he will also be forking out at least €50,000 in damages.
Neither businesses have been able to get flood insurance since the town was badly hit by a similar incident in 2000. While he was able to move most of the cars he had stocked the night before, two couldn’t be saved and were destroyed.
John said: “We knew this was going to take place, we have been here before so we took out most of our equipment and moved our cars. But we weren’t prepared for the amount or height of water that did come.
“We got no warning from anybody that this was going to take place. I knew it was happening and I rang the council at 10 o’clock on Monday and requested sandbags to be sent and I was told that it’s under review.
“At 5 o’clock on Tuesday morning, the sandbags arrived here. It was too little too late. They weren’t deployed early enough, they should have been here on Monday at the earliest, because the river had been full for a week at this stage and the storm was forecast.”
Local Independent Councillor Jackser Ownes said it will be at least two or three weeks of a major clean-up operation for the town, as he added: “This should have never happened. I call on Minister James Browne to forget about the red tape and get the money for the people. The people are sick to the teeth.
“People can’t live like this, people can’t be worried about if it’s going to rain tomorrow and if it is going to flood again. They’ve had it all their lives.” The Department of Social Protection announced that the Emergency Response Payment is now available for those affected by Storm Chandra in Wexford.
There are three stages of the scheme, with the maximum amount of compensation capped at €20,000. Members of the Civil Defence were busy at work throughout the town today. Peter O’Connor said luckily everyone they have checked on is safe, but a big clean-up is needed.
He said: “We’re just offering to help people, helping them remove stuff, heavy furniture and stuff like that. Anyone that we have seen has been fine, people have gone to relatives or other accommodation but everybody thankfully so far is okay.
“It’s going to take an awful long time for these houses to be sorted out. It will take a long time to dry them out.” Wexford County Council has been contacted for comment.
