Flooding is here - are we ready?

On 6th Jan 2014 Blackrock was hit by an enormous flooding event which hadn't been seen for decades before. I happened to be in the village that day and what I photographed by amazed and frightened me. A combination of high tides, heavy rains and an onshore wind brought 40 foot waves crashing down on the seafront. The 100 year old promenade wall wisely erected in the 1800's by Lord Clermont didn't fail but the waves overtopped the 10 ft wall on the seaside and flooded the main street and some businesses and residential properties.

The village came to a standstill with emergency services and county council workers powerless to do anything other than protect life. Sandbags were deployed and water pumping was in place - but the event happened so fast all people could do was clean up. The village came together to clear up and within a day or two the village was back to normal. These are resilient folk who seen storms and tragedies a plenty over the years. They came together to rebuild.

But the recent flooding and storms across Ireland in Nov 2023 and in particular the Cooley Peninsula which devastated Carlingford are a timely reminder that these are not once off events. As someone who lives in a seaside village I can tell you the tides are getting higher, the rain is getting heavier and the risk of serious flooding is increasing. But are we ready as communities? Its one thing doing the cleanup but there will come a time when people wont have the resources or will power to cleanup after the 2nd or 3rd or 4th time of being flooded. Nationally, we need to be on front foot with things like :-

• National Flooding Strategy
• National Flood Monitoring System
• Advanced Weather Warning Systems (not just colour codes)
• Co-ordinated Communications across Stakeholders
• Resources and Funding for Flooding Assets (sandbags, skips, pumps, etc)
• Simple and accessible grants and schemes

That's before we even get to flood defences which are moving at a snails pace across every county.

The impact of flooding on business owners is enormous. Its bad enough for a homeowner but to loose your stock and lively hood in a single event is heart breaking. There comes a time when business owners may say its not worth it anymore and pack up leaving our seaside villages all the worse.

Mother nature is now warning us of what is in store. We are fast running out of time to act. The next storm will be more severe - the flood level will be higher. We need to be ready next time ...

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