Workers dam off road in Glanmire to prevent flooding after mattress blocked culvert
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A mattress, a pink scooter and a baby’s cot were some of the items that blocked a culvert and caused major flooding during heavy rainfall in Glanmire on Wednesday.
The devastating deluge left stoic locals dealing — once again — with the grim clean-up.
Just yesterday, cars were abandoned on streets, with water gushing past their windows. As the rain fell, the actions of a construction crew helped prevent major flooding in homes and businesses.
Cork City Council and Sorenson Civil Engineering happened to have equipment and staff on site by the blocked culvert working on a flood relief scheme, which began in July.
As the culvert began to flood at Cois Na Gleann by the main Glanmire road, works began to dam off the road and divert the flooding water, saving local homes and businesses from millions of euros of damage.
Two dam walls on either side of the culvert which runs under the main road into Glanmire, the R639, diverted flood water into the river and away from the town.
This afternoon, the culvert was cleared after some 24 hours of work and the road has since reopened.
In the town, locals stopped Sorenson workers, thanking them for saving their homes and businesses.
Glamire Chamber also thanked Sorenson Civil Engineering for "saving the businesses of Hazelwood [Shopping] Centre" on Wednesday.
"Their quick action to divert the water into the river made a huge difference to the amount of water that ended up in the Centre," it wrote on Facebook.
"They have and still are working tirelessly to help divert traffic and clean up the aftermath of the flood. Thank You from Glanmire."
At the Glanmire scout hall, volunteers served food and hot drinks donated from local families and businesses, including Supervalu, Aldi and Subway to impacted households and workers.
At the worst-impacted estate, Copper Valley Vue, locals filled skips with piles of floorboards, sofas, carpets and ruined appliances after the flood water destroyed the ground floors of some 20 homes.
One local, Mary Pat Barrett, said it had been a nightmare. “One of my sons who has special needs just broke down last night.
“It’s going to cost thousands to fix. I don’t know where we’ll get the money. There’s no flood insurance here and the humanitarian fund is means-tested. My husband’s had to take time off work to try to clear the house.”
Aisling McEvoy and her husband Dominic said that council had not provided enough sandbags to protect their community.
But the locals had rallied to help, Mrs McEvoy said.
"The Mums of Glanmire [Facebook group] has been incredible. They called me and asked what we needed," she said.
"We had 20 people helping us clean our house.
"The Scouts and SuperValu dropped us over food." Ms McEvoy added: "I've never seen anything like this community support."
Scout leader Alan Daly said that volunteers have been dropping food and donated cleaning supplies to the estate to help locals with the cleanup.
On Wednesday, local volunteers lifted school children on their backs to get them home safely through some 3ft of fast-moving flood water at the estate.
Meanwhile, the fast-moving flood water had reached a potentially lethal eight feet as it tumbled down into Sarsfield GAA club in Riverstown, Glanmire. But community spirit saved some homes from major damage.
Sarsfield GAA spokesperson, Sarah McCarthy, said that two houses had already flooded by lunchtime on Wednesday in Orchard Manor estate across the road from the club.
“So our volunteers, I don't know how they did it, they were amazing, they got these sandbags and they channelled the water onto the pitch here.
“And we have a big gate here and bins that were protecting the club from water, so they moved the bins back and moved the debris, opened the gate, and it immediately relieved this estate here and the businesses beyond.
Flood relief works, promised since a major flood in 2012, came on site in June, but Ms McCarthy said that they were sadly too late to protect the town from flooding this time.
The damage at the club is still not known and no opening date has been set. “We have a long road ahead of us," Ms McCarthy said.
“We just put out a social media post just letting our members know that, obviously, the facilities are closed and the hurling wall and the Astro are closed until further notice, which is a bit soul-destroying, especially for the small kids because they love to come down every day with their hurleys and play ball.
“But there's an estate down the road where over 20 houses have flooded. So our thoughts are with those families really in the community.”
Monday’s glorious match in the club, when the local team beat nearby and also flood-devastated Midleton, seemed unimaginable now looking at the flooded pitch, plastic bottles and flood detritus strewn across the sodden pitch, local man Tommy McMahon said.
Sandbags, piled halfway up his front door, protected his house this time from flooding.
Mobile pumps, brought in as emergency responses, still dangled over the swollen Glashnaboy river in the town. Across the road, John O’Callaghan Park still looked like it had a lido in it, but an emergency ditch, dug at the river bank, had prevented worse destruction.
One local said that flood water had gushed with such strength and vociferousness that it could have drowned pedestrians.
“It should have been a red weather warning for Cork, not orange, that would have given people a better chance to prepare for this,” he said.
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