Motorists battle with surface water flooding throughout West Cork

THE provisional rainfall figure for Sherkin Island on Tuesday was 53.6mm, which is 47% of the October long-term average.

The south west was one of the areas worst affected by the near constant rainfall associated with Storm Babet.

The West Cork figure was recorded at the Sherkin Island meteorological office, but the figure for Cork Airport was even higher with 78.5mm over a 36-hour period.

The rainfall figure – which was provided by a  meteorological officer with Met Éireann –accounts for the huge levels of surface water on the roadways throughout West Cork.

The problem was, of course, exacerbated by saturated ground conditions. High river and stream levels, as well as  coastal overtopping, also contributed to some West Cork roadways being impassable.

The surface water at Glandore had to be pumped, while motorists had to take diversions to avoid the flooding at Clonakilty’s Faxbridge.

Between 5pm on Tuesday and 9am on Wednesday morning, Cork County Council responded to 106 incidents, while the local authority’s fire service responded to 30 calls.

Flood-risk areas, such as Bantry, were heavily sandbagged, including the placing of giant one-tonne sandbags at the quay side.

Pumping mechanisms were used in high risk areas to clear the surface water and their use in Bantry, in particular, probably gave residents the protection they needed at high tide at 7pm on Tuesday evening.

Surface water in the fields near Old Court, and on the road to Bantry, was the worst that has been seen in years, but the multi-million flood relief defences in Bandon, Clonakilty and Skibbereen protected homes and businesses from what used to be a perennial problem.