'The sound of the rain brings such fear': Prospect of more floods looms over Midleton

Tearful and heartbroken, Vanda Silva of Midleton Osteopathic Clinic on Main Street and Ana Hrgovan of Ana's Happy Scissors on Broderick Street comforted each other as the weary clean-up continued on Friday.

For Vanda, everything she has worked for since proudly opening her clinic a year ago "was destroyed in minutes".

Having worked in Midleton for over a decade, she said she is not sure that she can open again, after ploughing so much time, energy, and money into her new business a year ago.

Tens of thousands of euro worth of equipment is gone, she said.

Insurance, similar to businesses and homeowners all over Midleton, is an issue, with flooding preventing cover from being given.

"I don't know how I am going to pay my mortgage, what I am going to do, I have two young children. The equipment is destroyed, the floors had to be ripped up, and I haven't eaten or slept in days," she said.

A specialist piece of equipment that Ms Silva had wanted for 10 years, saving here and there when she could until the day she reached €25,000 to buy it, is now useless.

"I had saved for 10 years and was so excited when I was able to buy it. Now it is gone in an instant," she said.

For Ms Hrgovan, a dream she has had since she was a little girl in Croatia was destroyed in seconds.

"For us in Croatia, it was not possible when we were little. I live in Ballinacurra and I opened the business here in Midleton two years ago, because I could follow my dream in Ireland. That dream was destroyed in five minutes. It is heartbreaking.

"We had such little warning that I had thought I could move my car from outside, but it came so fast. That is destroyed too. My late father helped me buy that car, it has such sentimental value.

"On top of that, the car insurance company want me to pay €300 just for them to send out an assessor and have told me that my no-claims bonus is gone. It is bad news on top of bad news, it is hard to take."

Ms Silva said that going to sleep at night and hearing any kind of heavy rain brings a pit in the feeling of her stomach.

"What if it happens again? I've already had anxiety attacks in the last few days, but the sound of the rain brings such fear, it is hard to imagine. We are now living in almost constant fear in Midleton. The flood defence scheme has to happen as a matter of urgency," she said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said on a visit to Midleton on Thursday that he did not want to give a timeline he "cannot stand over" for the Midleton flood relief scheme, currently due to begin in 2025.

"We can't cut corners on them. There are environmental issues, there are very often objections, and very often they end up in court as well. This one here in Midleton, preliminary works are under way, environmental assessment is under way, and we intend to put in a funding application for next year.

"But we can't control whether or not people object, we can't control environmental issues, and we can't control the fact that sometimes it ends up in court. So I don't want to give people timelines that I can't necessarily stand over, but what I can say is that the scheme is being progressed as quickly as possible," he claimed.