This article is from page 12 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 12 JPG
THE flooding disaster in Gort was only prevented from turning into a catastrophe through the actions of a small group of volunteers, who have carted away more than 70 million gallons of water from the town over the last two weeks.
Despite the intensive flooding in parts of Crowe Street, large sections
of Gort remain largely untouched by the disaster. Had it not been for this effort, it 1s believed that more than 100 houses and businesses located on the Galway Road out of Gort would have been destroyed by the rising water.
A number of pumps have been go- ing round the clock in Gort since the flooding started and a small army of volunteers have been carting the wa-
ter away using tractors.
‘The situation on Crowe Street – we didn’t realise what we were doing at the time but we saved half the town. We thought we were saving our own street but by doing that we saved half the town by pumping away all that water,” said Mike Finn.
‘There is more then 70 million gal- lons of water pumped out of Crowe Street in the last 10 days. We thought
we had lost the battle on a few occa- sions but we pulled through.
“The gardai were good and the council workers. The community reaction here has been brilliant. We just can’t let it beat us now, we are nine or 10 days into it now and we will stay going – we will fight it all the way.”
Despite the terrible conditions, lo- cal people have been offering their time and support to the flood relief.
“It’s a huge community effort here. We have so many people working voluntarily here, so many machines working voluntarily. It’s not just in Gort, it’s all over the area,’ said Cllr Gerry Finnerty.
“It’s unbelievable the effort that people have made and only for it south Galway would be gone.”
Despite the flooding, locals have been keen to emphasise that Gort is still open for business.
‘There is a lot of good people here in Gort who have been doing their best to help. We need to emphasise to everyone out there that Gort is not closed, it is still open for business,’ continued Mr Finn.
‘This is a bigger disaster than peo- ple realise – if things don’t change all the shops will be closed by the Christmas.”