Rain sweeps metre of rock and mud to family home

A FAMILY escaped harm after the bad weather caused rocks and mud to slide towards their home.

The landslide reached the back of the Gavin family’s property and damaged an outhouse in Clifden, Co. Galway.

David Gavin told RTÉ Radio’s Seán O’Rourke: ‘My mother, my sister and my nephew were in the house and they heard this bang. They went into the kitchen, which is at the rear of the house, to investigate.

‘When they opened the utility door, there was about a metre of muck and stones on the floor.’

He described the back area of the house as a ‘bombsite’ following the landslide on Sunday evening.

Mr Gavin, his brother and a neigh- bour worked to clear the rubble from the back of the house in case it caused problems.

He said: ‘The septic tank is covered by about two metres of stuff. It’s something you’d never think would happen here.

‘It could be a lot worse. There was no-one injured and no structural damage really.’

Approach roads from both Galway and Clifden remained flooded for most of yesterday. One local joked: ‘If anyone is missing a river, it’s currently flowing down my driveway’.

In Co. Clare, residents were no better off. Some 20 homes were flooded in Miltown Malbay and a couple were trapped in their car in nearby Liscannor.