Lucky escapes in West Cork as Desmond devastates

STORM Desmond swept across West Cork and up the west and north coasts throughout Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday morning, with its gale-force winds and 70ml of rain (almost three inches) dumped on already-saturated land, causing widespread damage and flooding of roads and farmland.

A number of people had lucky escapes during the stormy weather on Saturday, one man in particular who was out walking his dog near Goleen on the Mizen Peninsula, when he came across a fallen powerline. The dog was electrocuted, while the man escaped uninjured, but obviously traumatised.

In a separate incident, near Shepperton on the N71 road from Skibbereen to Cork, on Saturday evening, an ambulance carrying a patient was in a minor collision with a car. Luckily, nobody was injured.

Members of the emergency services were kept busy in the treacherous conditions, as were ESB crews dealing with fallen power lines and local authority workers, while Army personnel were also deployed in parts of Cork and Kerry as back-up.

The most serious flooding occurred in Bandon on Saturday evening just over six years after the last really bad one there and there is understandable anger in the town amongst residents and businesspeople that the main drainage scheme that was meant to stop this happening again has not even started.

The Ilen River again burst its banks in Skibbereen, another area awaiting a flood relief scheme, causing flooding in parts of the town, including the Mill and Marsh Roads and at the southern end of Townshend Street.

The River Lee and some of its tributaries burst their banks in various parts of Mid Cork and the city braced itself for flooding as the swollen river’s water levels rose.

Many country roads were flooded throughout West and Mid Cork with the damage to and cost of repairing them to be assessed by council officials this week.