'I haven't stopped worrying': Flooded Midleton businesses say €70,000 won't be enough  

A senior Government source told the Irish Examiner on Sunday that it is “pushing for assessed and audited payments in excess of €70,000 for the businesses worst affected by Storm Babet”.

Trade Minister Simon Coveney said on Monday that he is bringing a proposal to Government which he expects to get support for.

"We will be significantly upgrading the financial supports that would normally be available for a flood," he told RedFM.

“I think it's likely that it will be upwards of €70,000 for businesses."

However, Midleton Chamber of Commerce president Adrianna Hegarty said some businesses in the East Cork town have incurred losses far in excess of that figure.

She told RTÉ radio’s News at One that businesses in the town have faced varying losses and that an estimated limit of €70,000 will not be sufficient to refit premises, restock and repair damage caused by the floods.

Some businesses had assessed that the damage they had experienced could be over €200,000. Restaurants, in particular, she said were looking at damaged equipment such as fridges, freezers and cookers. Despite this some of them were already back up and running, she said.

“The message we want to get out is that Midleton is open for business,” Ms Hegarty said, adding that people in the town were very resilient.

“We owe a huge amount to our local community who have been out in force helping, families and even school children were carrying debris, helping to clean, arriving with home-cooked food to keep everyone going while they salvaged their properties.” 

Plans for flood defences for the town needed to be expedited, she urged.

“It's really about getting past planning the next stage, which is likely to slow things down. So that just needs to be expedited.” 

Local pharmacist Niamh Brosnan said that the amount of €5,000 to €20,000 mentioned under the humanitarian aid operated by the Red Cross was “nearly an insult” and even the estimated new limit of €70,000 was not enough to restore her premises.

“I've lost computers, all my floors, all my units and my shelving, they're all wafting and swelling. Fire doors will have to be replaced. Ordinary doors, just the floor alone will be tens of thousands. Not to mind fixing the units. And then the exterior of my shop is actually chunks of timber that have been carried off in the water.

Personally, I can’t see €70,000 even covering all of that. We have no flood insurance at all just because we're in Midleton. And even with the bad flooding seven or eight years ago and that was horrific flooding then, it didn't come near us and I would have been pretty confident that we were okay. By God, was I wrong.

When asked if she was worried about it happening again, Ms Brosnan replied: “I haven't stopped worrying since Wednesday, to be honest. I have CCTV in the shop and I spend every night worrying about the shop and wondering is it coming again?"

She said she had been physically exhausted from the cleanup but was also mentally exhausted from the worry and trying to manage everything to get open again.