Locals in Midleton pictured travelling down a road in a small boat during the storm in 2023.
Cork
Residents say they remain just as vulnerable to flooding as they were in 2023, with the town’s long-awaited flood relief scheme now not expected to be completed until 2032.
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE attended a protest organised by a flood protection group in Midleton, Co Cork to highlight what they describe as “the lack of any meaningful protections” given to the community since Storm Babet devastated the area in 2023.
Extreme rainfall in Midleton and other parts of east Cork on the 17 October 2023 led to mass flooding in houses and businesses.
The force of the deluge caused the front window of a hairdressing salon in Midleton to shatter whilst flooding was 5ft deep in some places.
The flooding event caused up to €200 million in damage to businesses and homes in the town.
Members of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group say they are still years away from full protection against flooding across East Cork.
A protest took place on Saturday in Midleton and involved groups of people from the town as well as area such as Mogeely, Killeagh and Castlemartyr.
Spokesperson for the group, Mona Stromsoe, told local radio station 96FM that they feel just as vulnerable to flooding as they were in 2023.
“We were expecting the flooding defence scheme for Midleton to go to planning at the end of September,” Stromsoe said.
“As recently as July we were told it was on track to go to planning at the end of September.
“That didn’t happen, and we were told by the minister [Kevin 'Boxer' Moran] that it wouldn’t happen until the end of Q4.”
Stromsoe said that this was “the fourth date we have had” for the scheme.
“What people may not realise is the scheme has been in planning since 2014. The first flood risk assessment was done in 2012,” Stromsoe said.
“Fourteen years on and there hasn’t been a shovel in the ground. (A completion date of) 2032 is now what we are being told by the council.
“That date has been pushed out twice since Storm Babet alone.”
Stromsoe says people previously impacted by flooding in East Cork remain fearful of a repeat episode.
“They think ‘is today the day ?’ We saw in Killarney during the summer that it was just one day of rain, and they were flooded.
“People are afraid it will happen again and it will be as bad as Babet.”
Earlier this month Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, announced €1.1 million in funding for east Cork to introduce interim flood-mitigation measures in Mogeely, Castlemartyr, Rathcormac and Ballintubber.
The minister said the announcement was part of an overall €14 million allocation to Midleton and east Cork to address and mitigate the flood risk in the region.
He said a further €5.8 investment is enabling advance works in Tir Cluain, Midleton, to proceed to construction from Spring next year. These works will protect 135 properties.
Moran added that Cork County Council is due to receive the final planning engineering and environmental assessment documents for the overall flood defence scheme from its consultants this month.
He said this will allow the Council to make a planning application for the Midleton Flood Relief Scheme, to protect 750 properties, and all of those impacted by Storm Babet, to An Coimisiún Pleanála, at the end of the year.
Moran thanked Cork County Council for its work to progress measures and the schemes for East Cork.