Four more engineers expected to help Midleton householders tackle flood risk
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Cork County Council has said it is confident the OPW will fund another four local authority engineers to be seconded to the flood relief project in Midleton.
One of the main roles of the engineers is to advise vulnerable householders and businesses on how best to protect their properties before multi-million euro defences are built in the town.
The OPW has already paid for a senior council engineer to join its project team and senior council officials have said they hope four more of its engineers will join that team soon.
Catherine Murphy, a senior official in the council’s flood relief section, said the engineers “will be focused on the delivery of interim flood mitigation measures” in Midleton and other nearby communities which were severely impacted by last October’s Storm Babet.
“Work is ongoing on the development of a plan for the implementation of individual property protection on a phased basis in Midleton. The roll-out of interim measures in Midleton is underway in a phased manner. The planning design of the preferred option (for flood relief works) is underway and is not being delayed by the analysis of Storm Babet,” she said.
Ms Murphy added, however, that some minor adjustments to heights and extents of flood defences are anticipated as a result of updated hydrological and hydraulic analysis following the storm.
The options report, which is anticipated to be published in the summer, will outline these changes and provide full details of the preferred options.
Ms Murphy said she anticipates that the scheme will be submitted for statutory consent in quarter three of next year. However, she warned that the statutory consent timeline is not within the control of the council or the OPW and therefore confirmation of timelines for construction are not possible at present.
She made her comments at a meeting of the council’s Southern Division, which controls the East Cork area. Both Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty and Social Democrats councillor Liam Quaide welcomed her optimism on the OPW approval for the appointments.
Mr Quaide said in particular he welcomed the focus on efforts to protect individual properties, but asked that this not just be confined to Midleton but expanded to other areas in the region which were also badly impacted by Storm Babet.
Ms Murphy said that initially the concentration of such efforts will be in Midleton, but the promised engineers will then move on to help property owners in nearby villages impacted by last October’s deluge.
She told Mr Hegarty that flooding which occurred on the same date in Ladysbridge may well be due to a development there “which didn’t comply with planning permission" in respect of run-off culverts, and this was being examined by the council’s planning enforcement section.
She also said that flooding in Whitegate that day was due to water pouring down the road from the cemetery side into the village and that culverts on that road were incapable of dealing with the volume. Ms Murphy said “it will be expensive to resolve” this problem.
Meanwhile, she informed Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry that flood prevention works for the proposed creation of the 2,500-house town at Waterrock, to the east of Midleton, are “still on the table” in conjunction with the Midleton project.
He had expressed concern the land earmarked for the major housing development is also at risk of flooding.