Preparation for Storm Emma key as council staff praised
DISTRICT Manager Sinead Casey said extensive pre-planning went into preparing for Storm Emma, with numerous types of snow shifting equipment sourced.
‘We had a severe weather plan for 2018 which involved clearing regional roads first and opening up single carraigeways,’ Ms Casey said. Once council staff opened up a road to single lane traffic, they moved on to the next area, before returning to widen the roads they had initially ploughed.
15,000 homes in the area were without power at some point during the storm, while 9,000 homes were without running water due to the power outages. ‘ The areas of Ballycullane, Duncannon, Ballyhack, Arthurstown, Fethard, the Hook and Campile were without water. I want to thank Dan McCartan and the water staff, Abraham Dunne and his team and all the roads staff.’
Ms Casey said information about the storm was made readily available to people through Mapalerter messages and through the media and the council press office.
‘245 tweets were tweeted by Wexford County Council and they had over half a million views between February 21 to March 2, when there were 15,000 seen in the same period in 2017.’
She praised the firemen who spent several hours getting to a fire at St Martin’s Park in Ballycullane, before making their way back to New Ross that night and also praised the work of council engineers.
‘Our engineers were taking between 100 and 150 calls a day and they needed to deal with all the planning and machinery. There was a huge dependence on machinery;’ she said, adding that the greatest difficulties revolved around getting to people in isolated houses.
‘ There were also snow joyriders blocking the roads.’
Among the lessons learned by council officials was that Eircodes are invaluable, as was pre-planning, teamwork and communciation. Praising the ‘invaluable community spirit’ in the area, she said Eircodes were also vitally important in locating people who needed to be transported to hospital for dialysis.
One hangover from the storm is the number of potholes in the area. Ms Casey said council staff have made preparations to deal with the issue as best they can.
Cathaoirleach Cllr Willie Fitzharris said it would be a good idea to enable councillors to contribute their thoughts and observations about how similar storms can be handled better in the future.
‘I think we need a training session on Twitter and Youtube and as to what to do so as we’re not annoying officials. I want to thank all of the staff involved; they did a great job.’
Cllr Michael Whelan thanked Ms Casey and all of the council staff who kept him updated about progress on the ESB and the water service. He praised the fire service for their great effort and people from Rathimney to Ballycullane who put their shoulders to the wheel to help get the firemen to and from the village and the housing department of Wexford County Council for housing the lady who lost her house in the fire. Cllr Martin Murphy thanked the engineers and Mr McCartan and his team for their great work trying to repair the water service in Taylorstown. Cllr Michael Sheehan said: ‘I think it truly was the finest hour of our public service. I want to thank Cyril McGarr and the firemen who were out shovelling between call outs. The army were bringing people down for dialysis at 6 a.m. and the civil defence. I want to compliment the media for the way they kept everyone up to speed.’
Cllr Larry O’Brien said councillors were kept updated regularly throughout the storm. ‘ That was very helpful. The townspeople were able to get out but when you live put the country people were blocked up for three or four days. Having the news was great as you can let them know.’
He asked if people can use a snow plough to keep their roads clear during heavy snows and was told they can. Ms Casey said: ‘Irish Public Bodies have said they will step in to see that nobody is out of the pocket.’
Cllr Anthony Connick said it was a fantastic achievement for so many roads to have been cleared considering how much snow fell and praised people for heeding the warnings. District Director Eamonn Hore said council staff assisted in huminatarian call-outs bringing people to doctors, wakes and funerals. ‘Our outdoor staff were outstanding,’ he said.