Flooded roads closed in Cork, Kerry as drivers urged to take care

Council officials in Cork city and county are this morning waiting for flood waters to recede before they begin an assessment of the damage done to the road network after almost 36 hours of torrential rain led to flooding in many areas.

Met Éireann had issued an Orange Rainfall Warning for Cork with forecasts of 80 mm of rain over a 48-hour period from Monday into Wednesday. At 8am today Met Éireann’s Meteorological Station at Cork Airport was reporting 55mm of rain since 8pm on Monday.

Cork City Council director of operations David Joyce said the council had activated its flood plan in anticipation of road flooding, and several roads around the city remained closed this morning as flood waters from the Lee catchment had made them impassable.

“We closed the Lee Road, the Cloghroe Road and the Inniscarra Road early on Tuesday and then with continued significant rainfall all day, there was a lot of flooding on the Carrigrohane Straight so we consulted with gardaí and closed the road, and it remains closed this morning.”

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Mr Joyce said Met Éireann was predicting further rainfall by 6pm this evening of 4mm to 6mm in Cork city, while further rainfall of 10mm to 12mm is forecast for the Derrynasaggart Mountains near the Cork-Kerry border – which will in turn feed into the Lee system and come through the city’s river channels.

“Some of the rivers across the city like the Tramore in Douglas and the Glashaboy in Glanmire have turned so it looks as though they have peaked so they will start to come down today and tomorrow so the threat levels there are receding and will recede further today,” Mr Joyce said.

“But the river Lee itself is such a large catchment it’s going to take some days for that to start to come down so areas like the Lee Road, Inniscarra Road, the Cloghroe Road and the Carrigrohane Straight are likely to continue to experience flooding for the next 24-48 hours or maybe longer.”

Mr Joyce said the damage seemed to be confined to the road network with the council receiving no reports of any houses or buildings being flooded.

Cork County Council activated flood protection measures in both Mallow and Fermoy with council staff putting up mountable barriers in both towns as heavy rainfall in the west of the county along the Cork-Kerry border led to water level rises of over three metres in the Blackwater.

Cork County Council Senior Engineer, Aidan Weir said the council’s rainfall monitoring station at Caherbarnagh near Millstreet reported over 90mms of rain in a 24-hour period.

The flood peaked in Mallow at around 10pm but only began to subside around midnight and Cork County Council reopened Bridge Street this morning even though Park Road remains closed as it is still under almost two metres of water after the Blackwater burst its banks in Mallow Town Park.

A homeless man in his 50s was this morning recovering after he was rescued from an old pumphouse where he had been staying in Mallow Town Park when floodwaters from the Blackwater began to surround the structure to a depth of almost three meters.

Mallow Search and Rescue were alerted around 6pm after a passerby spotted the man waving for help and they launched a RIB and managed to bring the man to safety back at their base. He was uninjured, and gardaí managed to secure accommodation for him locally overnight.

Elsewhere, a number of roads are closed in counties Kerry and Tipperary. Kerry County Council said the N72 at Ballymalis and Listry Bridge on the R563 should be avoided and that motorists should expect surface water "on all routes".

The ESB said there are "no major outages" as a result of Tuesday night's weather.

A status orange rainfall warning for counties Cork, Kerry, Tipperary and Waterford was in place over recent days, with forecasts of 8mm of rain over a 48-hour period from Monday into Wednesday. By 8pm on Tuesday, 50mm of rain had been reported at Cork Airport over the preceding 24 hours.

Forecast

There will be a cloudy start in all areas on Wednesday morning with mainly dry conditions in the north and west. Outbreaks of rain will occur across the midlands, south and east through the morning and afternoon.

A clearance to drier weather with scattered showers will gradually edge from the west later in the day, but remaining damp in the east until after dark.

Highest temperatures will be between 9 to 11 degrees in moderate southwesterly winds. The last of the rain will clear the east coast this evening, with all areas dry for a time early tonight as skies clear.

A band of showers with a risk of hail will then move in from the west and cross the country overnight, but remaining mostly dry in the east. Lowest temperatures will be between 2 to 4 degrees, in moderate west to southwest winds.

Many areas will be dry with sunny spells to start on Thursday, however there will be scattered showers in the west and north.

These showers will spread to all areas through the late morning and afternoon, but there will be some sunny spells at times too. Highest temperatures will be between 8 and 9 degrees, with a brisk westerly breeze.

High pressure will become established close to Ireland by the end of this week bringing mostly dry, settled weather with sunny spells and light winds for this weekend and beyond into next week. Daytime temperatures will be slightly above average for late February, however patches of frost and fog will return by night.