A Kerry councillor has blamed Killarney’s old sewerage system for the flooding of properties during the flash floods in the town last month.
Councillor Nial Kelleher said the primary cause of flooding damage to three properties was the old-style combined storm water and sewerage infrastructure which serves a large portion of the town.
An estimated 57mm of rain fell in a four-hour period on August 27, with around 30mm in one hour alone, causing significant flooding on roads throughout the town.
The deluge triggered a massive clean-up operation in Killarney with Kerry County Council (KCC) staff, the Kerry Fire Service and the Kerry Civil Defence mobilised to respond to the impact.
At a recent Kerry County Council meeting, Councillor Maura Healy-Rae raised the plight of three residential properties that were badly damaged by flood waters.
She praised the town’s services for their response to the rainfall but emphasised that the situation had been ‘deeply distressing’ for affected locals.
One of the unfortunate properties was newly finished, with the owners planning to move in the following weekend.
Cllr Healy-Rae said it was not the first time drainage issues had been reported to KCC and Uisce Éireann and that residents believed it was a sewer that was not large enough to cope.
“Is there too much development?” she asked at the meeting.
The sewage going into the properties posed a ‘huge’ health and safety risk, she added, pointing out that one of the properties was inhabited by an elderly person living on their own.
“We’re asking for action…surely in this instance it deserves a reaction,” said Cllr Healy-Rae.
Councillor Nial Kelleher said the primary cause of the flooding to the properties was the combined storm water and sewage network.
While a ‘non-too costly’ solution could be implemented at this specific location, such as non-return valves, the network’s architecture was ultimately the issue, he said.
“The greater problem needs a very, very big look at…we’ve had this hobby horse for a long time…please let’s look at that into the future,” said Cllr Kelleher.
Council executive, James Nolan, advised that the combined network was owned by Uisce Éireann but every new development in Killarney was required to have a separate water and sewerage network.
Regarding the overall flooding of the town, he said that no town or city would have been able to take that volume of rain.
“Drainage networks across the country are not capable of taking that volume…it’s just not the way it’s designed,” said Mr Nolan.
Killarney councillors praised the reaction of Kerry County Council to the town’s flooding but called for an ‘urgent’ survey of the area’s drainage system.
Cllr Kelleher said similar weather situations would happen again – droughts preceeding heavy rainfall – and asked that the cleaning of drains be carried out during the summer months.
Cllr Healy-Rae also highlighted that there had been no warning on Met Éireann and that the weather service should respond.
“If they had that warning in advance for preparation, it would have been quite different,” she said.
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