Cork floods: ‘We couldn’t stop the water – it was coming too fast. It was coming in waves’

Debbie Walsh, proprietor of The Old Thatch, was at the landmark pub and restaurant in Killeagh, east Co Cork, on Wednesday morning when the flood water from the nearby river Dissour started pouring in.

“I came out here after the school run like I always do. I rang Brian [her husband] saying, ‘I think the water is going to come in’. I rang the Fire Brigade and said ‘What do I do?’ and they told me to turn off the mains of the electricity, so we were in darkness,” Ms Walsh said.

“Brian came and we went outside. The water was coming in the beer garden door. We could see it coming, you couldn’t stop it. We couldn’t do anything.

“Brian tried to open all the drains as much as he could but it was coming in every door, every nook and cranny. We couldn’t stop it – it was coming too fast. It was coming in waves.

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“It all happened between 9.15am and 10.30am, the place was flooded. It was brutal. The water in the kitchen was up to my knees. We just stood and watched it, standing in there speechless. I never saw anything like it in my life.

“The houses all over the villages are destroyed, the whole main street. Midleton is known for flooding but Killeagh is not, it’s never happened here before.

“The clean-up has been horrible but I’ve loads of help. Brian hasn’t stopped. Everyone in Killeagh has been coming and offering help. The people in Killeagh are fantastic. We’re getting there. We’ve all the water out but the beer garden is like a mud bath.

“I haven’t gone into the beer garden bar yet to check it. I keep saying, there’s no one dead.”