'It was like a river and we had to move all the customers out'

KILDARE:WATER WAS still ebbing into the Village Inn pub in Celbridge, Co Kildare yesterday lunchtime. A white sheet had been rolled up and was at the foot of a small flight of stairs absorbing the last of Saturday night's flood water.

"It's still coming in a little bit. Let's hope and pray that it's not going to rain again for a few days," said Brian Leach, a local builder helping with the clean-up. "The water is nearly all gone now."

The pub, on the main street of the town, opened for lunch yesterday but had to close suddenly on Saturday afternoon.

"It [the flooding] started at about 4 o'clock," said Richard Cusack, a member of staff who was yesterday using an industrial suction cleaner designed to vacuum up water. "The back laneway flooded first and came flowing through the whole pub to the front. It was like a river and we had to move all the customers out. I'd say there were over a hundred people in the place. Then we got it mostly cleaned up by six o'clock, let people back in and it started up again worse than ever."

He said the fire brigade arrived later to help pump water out of the premises and lanes behind. "They told me that between Leixlip and Celbridge there were 65 engines out pumping water from houses and shops and places.

"We were cleaning and clearing all night, lost a night's takings and couldn't open the disco out the back either. The water was about 10 inches deep and we only got the place refurbished two months ago. Luckily we didn't get carpet."

Next door's Londis supermarket had a sign outside: "Closed due to flooding. Sorry for the inconvenience". Its shutters were down yesterday.

Water still lay in pools on parts of the shop floor as members of staff mopped. Owner Joe Doyle was assessing the damage. "It's mainly just stock that we are going to have to throw out. The water just came in from the back and flowed right through to the street. I suppose it was a foot high."

In Leixlip, the owners of Sam's takeaway, on the main street, said they had spent about four hours on Saturday night clearing their premises of water which reached about a foot and a half deep.

"There were 11 of us trying to clear up," said owner Bernie Macari. "There were four drains blocked out on the street and road, the water had nowhere to go and it just came flowing in."

All those who spoke to The Irish Timesyesterday said no politician or public representative had been to see the damage. "If there was an election coming they'd all have been down here in droves," said Brian Leach.