Homes and businesses in Cork begin clean-up after Storm Babet unleashed havoc

The Government said funding will be available to help those impacted by the severe flooding in Cork.

County Senior Hurling champions Sarsfields in Glanmire also saw their pitch and clubhouse extensively damaged just days after winning the county final.

“There is a real sense of destruction. The level of damage to Midleton and surrounding areas as far as Glanmire has been devastating,” Cork East TD James O’Connor said.

In Midleton, at least 100 properties were flooded along the length of the main street, with a makeshift centre established for potential evacuation of homes. The Army and Civil Defence assisted evacuations.

Local councillor Danielle Twomey said the flood was the town’s “worst in living memory”. Several estates and Midleton hospital were under a metre of water and access to Midleton from Cloyne was cut off, she said.

Images of children being rescued by the fire service and others wading through waist-high waters around Cork shocked their communities, while roads in the area face extensive reconstruction after crumbling away in the downpour.

Midleton’s Darling Buds pre-school confirmed that adults had to remove young children by piggy-back.

One of the country’s leading authorities on climate change, Maynooth University geography professor Peter Thorne, warned that the likes of Cork and Waterford should brace for such events to become more frequent in the future, due to climate change.

“This is an example of a compound extreme event — a combination of the riverine flooding, the storm surge, and long-term sea level rise has led to major implications for Cork today. As I have noted repeatedly, it was only a matter of time before that combination hits us.

“It is inevitable that the probability of these events will increase, whether it will happen more and more every year in Cork is another question,” he said.

"But it will happen more and more around the globe, and that means on average that Cork or Dublin or Galway or Waterford will experience these kinds of things more frequently."

Another East Cork landmark, The Thatch Bar in Killeagh, which dates from the 1600s and was previously destroyed by fire, was also among the premises devastated by the Storm Babet flooding.

Cork County Council continued to assess the potential for further damage long into the night, describing the flooding as “unprecedented”. It said the flooding had been caused by a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours, saturated land and high river levels.

“Cork County Council is aware of the flooding of properties in Whitegate, Rathcormac, Glandore, Ringaskiddy, Carrigaline, Raffeen, Halfway, and Castletownbere,” it said.

Roads across the county remain perilous, the local authority warned, as it pleaded with motorists not to take unnecessary journeys.

“With high river levels, members of the public are advised to stay high, stay dry and away from the coast, rivers and lakes,” it added.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said there is always funding made available to support households and businesses that experience this level of damage to their homes and businesses caused by flooding.

He said the support will be granted through either the local authorities in Cork or directly from the Government.

Mr Donohoe told the Irish Examiner: “When we’ve dealt with other flooding incidents over the last year or so additional funding has been made available to support those who are affected.

“We always make provision for this in the annual budget and in the funding that’s available to Government departments and obviously it would be no different for this flood and for those who are affected.”