‘We’re exhausted, please help us’: Family’s 11-year flood fight
WHEN heavy rain began falling on Friday, George and Mary Sugrue knew what was coming.
For the last 11 years, the couple – who live on the outskirts of Tralee, just off the main Castlemaine Road – have been battling floods to try and keep their house safe.
Since 2008 the Sugrues’ home has been threatened by floods eight times. The worst came in December 2015 when their home was swamped by flood water, causing thousands of Euro in damage.
While flooding has always been an issue in the area, it has gotten far worse in recent years.
Back in 2008, George Sugrue decided to build a new house on the site of the family home which had stood on the same site for some 70 years. The family home had never flooded but, just to be safe, George and Mary decided to construct their new home on foundations a few feet higher than the old house.
They assumed this would guarantee its safety but, sadly, it hasn’t.
The site flooded in 2008 and again in 2009 and 2012, with water coming within feet and eventually inches of the front door. After surviving one flood in September 2015, the Sugrues’ flood defences were overcome – and the house flooded that December.
The problem has become so regular that the Sugrues now have eight water pumps – including two large industrialmachines – permanently on site.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, these were put into use once more as George and Mary tried to fend of the latest flood to threaten their home.
The latest drama began on Friday evening – with a warning from friends that they “could be in trouble” – and since 2.30 on Saturday morning, George and Mary have been fighting a 24-hours-a-day battle to keep the flood-water from their home. 11 years fighting floods have taken their toll.
“We’re just exhausted from it all. We’re worn out, and we have no life anymore,” said Mary.
“When the floods come, they come so fast. You have to always be on the alert,” she said.
“They will recede a bit but, after one more shower, you can be in danger again.”
The cause of the worsening floods isn’t clear, but local waterways clogged with fallen tree and plant debris are likely to be a major factor.
The ‘flood-eye’ on a nearby bridge is also thought to be too small to cope with the volume of water generated by Ireland’s increasingly severe weather.
Mary and George are pleading with Kerry County Council to take action.
“We’ve done everything we can. We need help, we’re desperate at this stage,” Mary told The Kerryman.
“Our house is worthless. We can’t insure it, and we can’t sell it. We just want someone to help us,” she said.
Mary and George are aware and deeply concerned at suggestions that the adjacent Tralee- Castlemaine road’s surface could be raised a few inches to prevent floods closing it – as happened this week.
“If they do that, the next flood would swamp us entirely,” said Mary.
Kerry County Council said it is monitoring the current situation closely and is in talks with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) “with a view to remedial measures to alleviate the problem.”