This article is from page 18 of the 2007-12-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
‘SERIOUS and abnormal’ flooding in the Drumgeely area of Shannon prevented people from getting into their homes earlier this month.
The problem was discussed after it was brought up by Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy, at a meeting of Shannon area councillors earlier this week.
She called for a report to be pre- sented on the case and solutions to be brought into effect, to ensure that there is no repetition of the situation, which caused grave concern to resi- dents in the Corrib Drive area.
“Entrances to some of the parks
were blocked, due to the flooding. When the flooding was cleared on the right hand side, it moved to the left hand side, so much so that people couldn’t get into their homes,” she Sr NLGe
“It was unusual and it was a long, long time since that happened be- fore,’ she added, pointing out that she wants steps to be taken to ensure there won’t be a repeat of the flood- ing.
In a response to her query, Senior Executive Engineer Donal Hogan said that the “prolonged intense rain” on December 6 resulted in road and land flooding, not only in Shannon, but across the county.
‘In most cases, the road flooding in urban areas occurs when gulley gratings become clogged with de- bris such as leaves, litter etc, which washes into the gratings of the gul- lies,” said Mr Hogan, in a written response.
‘In some cases the flooding occurs because the underground gulley or the pipework from the gulley to the main drain has reduced capacity due to build-up of silt.
“The road flooding, which oc- curred in Drumgeely, occurred from the same reasons as outlined above for urban areas, with the build-up of leaves being the main reason,” added Mr Hogan.
He stated that the council’s outdoor staff were all diverted to deal with the flooding problems on December 6 and again on December 7.
‘The council endeavours to ensure that all road outlets are opened, gul- leys and pipework cleaned out as much as is possible. In areas such as Drumgeely, gulleys are cleaned out once each year, while pipework is cleaned out as the need arises.
“Notwithstanding these measures it is inevitable that rainfall such as occurred in this case will result in Surface water run-off which will, es- pecially at this time of the year, bring leaves etc to the gulleys resulting in flooding at some of them,” said.