Government emergency response group to discuss storm damage

The Government’s emergency response group will meet today to co-ordinate responses to the storms that have caused severe damage to the west and south coasts.

Parts of Cork, Galway and Waterford suffered further flooding last night. The Corrib in Galway burst its banks again and the promenade in Salthill was again flooded. Connemara was also badly hit. In Cork, the Lee broke its banks and there was more flooding in Bantry.

The county manager in Kerry is to apply for special funding to the Department of the Environment following what was described as a “devastating” series of storms in recent weeks.

Clean-up
The long clean-up after four weeks of high wind and rain is due to begin today. Met Éireann forecaster John Eagleton said the stormy weather is over for the foreseeable future though more rain is predicted.

The cost of the clean-up is likely to push insurance claims for weather-related events well above €1 billion for the last four years. Insurance Ireland, the representative body for insurance companies, estimated the cost of the last four major weather events since the floods of November 2009 has been €954 million, a figure that does not include the damage caused by the recent stormy weather.

It says it is too soon to estimate the cost of recent events, but anecdotal estimates suggest it is likely to be at the higher end of that scale.

Full assessment
Minister of State at the Office of Public Works Brian Hayes said the Cabinet would get a full assessment of the damage when the storms had abated and the cost estimates were in. "It is inevitable in my view that additional funds will have to be made available, given the scale of the damage."

Mr Hayes added that there is already “a significant fund of €45 million available”.

The National Co-ordinating Group on Severe Weather will oversee plans to address damage caused by the tidal surges and high winds of the last week.

Met Éireann climatologist Aidan Murphy said the bad weather has been caused by the polar jet stream that normally skirts the northeast of the country, but has been over Ireland since the middle of December, bringing storm-force winds on seven separate days.