This article is from page 6 of the 2009-12-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
FLOOD hit businesses prepared to re-open yesterday in Ennis amid warnings that more floods could be on the way.
Businesses in the Gort Road, Ab- bey Street and Newbridge Road were among the worst affected when floodwaters rose to unprecedented levels in Ennis last month.
The Gort Road was expected to fully re-open last night while New- bridge Road is closed from the Club Bridge to the junction of Gort Road and New Road.
Paddy Perill, of Perill’s Furniture Store, was forced to close up shop last Wednesday when floodwaters spilled over from the nearby Colaiste Muire secondary school.
Perill’s reopened yesterday with Paddy, who has run the business at Newbridge Road for 23 years, saying he had never seen floods as severe.
He said, “There was a bit of dam- age done alright. It wasn’t too bad but there was still a bit. It never hap- pened before that we got flooding as bad. I was talking to a man from up the road who is 84 and he said he never saw it as bad”.
Mr Perill said he had experienced heavy flooding in 1999 when the River Fergus burst its banks and cov- ered Newbridge Road.
“It came over the road 10 years ago but what got us this time was the water coming down the back from
the Colaiste.” He believes that there isn’t a whole that local authorities can do to prevent floods from strik- ihetear-hex-BU0E
“There’s nothing that really could be done. Look at all that rain fell in the last few weeks. Water always finds its level. It has to go some- where,’ he said.
Ronan Cahir of GiftVenue.ie at Ab- bey Street is hoping to re-open this week after floodwater caused exten- sive damage to his premises.
“No time is ideal for businesses but
with Christmas around the corner, it was a far from ideal time for this to happen,’ said Mr Cahir.
In order to dry out his business, Mr Cahir said he has been forced to run three large dehumidifiers 24-hours a day for the last week.
‘“We’ve had to get new carpet and flooring in but they can’t be put down until the place 1s dry”, he said.
Mr Cahir, who was initially refused sandbags after Abbey Street was not designated as a priority area, said he is determined to re-open despite fur-
ther flood warnings.
‘Every day for the past two weeks there seems to have been warnings about high tides and more floods. You could lose a lot of sleep and you could freeze with anticipation but you have to get on with it”.