Early warning system 'would have helped people better prepare for floods'

A major clean-up operation is continuing after the storm caused widespread flooding and damage to homes and businesses. Towns and villages across Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Galway, and Donegal were hardest hit, experiencing torrential flooding.

Met Éireann had issued a red weather warning — it's highest alert — for Cork and Galway. 

But Mr O'Relly said an early warning system, delivering specific flood alerts, could have helped people better prepare. 

“If you know how much rain is falling on upland areas and match that data with existing river water levels, it is possible to get reasonably accurate localised flood predictions,” he said.

For around the €9m this Government spent on phone pouches, you could set up a national early warning system that could give people warnings between one or two hours ahead

“There does not appear to be the political will to create a national system."

It is estimated up to around 1,000 homes and businesses were damaged by flood waters in counties including Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Kerry and Cork.

Up to 80 roads had to be closed, a landslide occurred near Shramore, Newport, Co Mayo, and a section of road in Leenane, Co Galway, was swept away.

Record water levels were recorded in places, including the River Feale at Listowel, where the levels reached were the highest since records began in 1946.

Flooding scheme to reopen

On Sunday, Enterprise Minister Peter Burke announced is planning to reopen the emergency humanitarian flooding scheme “as a matter of urgency” to provide support for businesses impacted by severe weather events.

However, Mr O’Reilly said the cost of such State support could be a lot less if both people and businesses were given better and more specific flood warnings.

“This is not rocket science by any stretch of the imagination,” he told the Irish Examiner.

“We will continue to see severe weather events in the coming months and years, so it should make sense for there to be an early warning scheme in place nationally.”

A Met Eireann spokesperson said: "The flood forecasting systems in use by Met Éireann are at a stage of development where direct interpretive guidance from expert hydrometeorologists is essential for their safe and effective use by emergency managers and local authorities. 

"Accordingly, this direct model output is not available on Met Éireann’s public facing platforms and will not be available to the public for the foreseeable future until they have arrived at a stage of development similar to numerical weather prediction models. "

In a November 11 email to Mr O’Reilly, a member of Met Éireann's Flood Forecasting team said: “With regard to information provided directly to the public, we communicate flood risk through general weather warnings and broadcasts.

“Releasing raw data directly to the public would present a risk to public safety due to the high likelihood of misinterpretation and confusion.”

Met Éireann also said “significant progress” has been made in the development of the Flood Forecasting Centre, as part of the National Flood Forecasting and Warning Service.

It said that, with further development of the service, it envisages more flooding information can be made more widely available.

However, until then, anything other than the general information it provides on its website “will not be available to the public for the foreseeable future”.

Mr O’Reilly said: “The average member of the public is not looking for the raw data. What they want to be told is the extent to which their area is going to be flooded and roughly when."