Business owners lament failure of pump as Brian Boru Square floods

A fault that occurred in a pump house on Rathealy Road, Fermoy in the early hours of Wednesday morning has resulted in the flooding of a number of local businesses in the town, writes Katie Glavin.

According to Richie Flynn of The Avondhu Bar, four to five inches of water came into his premises following the heavy rain in recent days, with a faulty pump sensor on part of the flood defence scheme understood to be the root cause.

“It’s disgraceful, four inches of water is the same as having five feet of water, it does the same damage. This will take up to six months to dry out. Tile structures are damaged, floors ruined, tables and chairs are all getting soaked,” a concerned Richie told The

on Wednesday.

'I'M IN SUCH A TEMPER OVER IT'

With pubs being closed under Covid-19 restrictions, Richie stated that his premises has not been open for some time, and with the flood defence scheme in place and working effectively since commissioning, he claims he had no reason to move items from the floor area of his premises.

While flood barriers have been effective, it is understood that waters had risen from the banks of the nearby River Blackwater causing the flood in Brian Boru Square early on Wednesday morning, due to the faulty pump station.

“I’m in such a temper over it. The damage is done, if water gets in, water gets in. It’s a fright to God, it’s such a simple thing but there was no back-up. There’s a lot of issues there that weren’t corrected,” Richie stated.

Having spoken with the council, Richie claims that there was council staff on duty Tuesday night. However, he claims that a council staff member was left off duty early on Wednesday morning.

“Why leave a man off at 3.15am? It makes no sense. If they had manned the road, they would have noticed the flooding, but they had no back-up, no one was watching. In this day and age, this shouldn’t happen. It’s the council’s responsibility and they should have to answer for this,” Richie added.

According to weather updates issued on Tuesday evening by Cork County Council, the peak in Fermoy was expected between 3am and 6am, with the update noting ‘council crews remain on standby’.

ALARM RAISED

Sean Lomasney of nearby

Abbeyville House, raised the alarm after he had woken up at 4.30am and went for a walk, only to realise something had gone wrong with the flood alleviations, right before the peak at 5.45am.

“When I looked at the footpaths in Brian Boru Square, I saw the manholes were filling with water and flowing out onto the streets. I looked for a council employee but saw nobody, so I decided to ring the gardai and they passed it on to the council,” Sean informed The

Avondhu

“A sensor on a pump didn’t cut in and alarms that should have went off didn’t alert anyone either. It was a mechanical issue to start with and human error after that. Properties were flooded that shouldn’t have been flooded,” he added.

CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION

Investigations into the cause of the flood were called for by Cllr Noel McCarthy after a failure at the Rathealy Road pump station.

“We must investigate that, we shouldn’t have problems like this after spending that much money on flood alleviations. Wimpy, The Avondhu Bar, and Fermoy Vapes on Brian Boru Square have been seriously impacted by this,” Cllr McCarthy said.

“Since the work on the flood alleviations have been completed, businesses still can’t get insurance. They weren’t being quoted for insurance, and even if they were, it’s at a huge price. This can’t happen again”.

Local councillor Deirdre O’Brien said it was ‘terribly disappointing’ to see premises flooded after the flood barriers had been erected in the town.

“It is soul destroying for the owners. It needs to be investigated as why a contingency plan was not put in place to deal with the situation where a telecommunications network would fail and why the river level was not continued to be monitored as the peak was expected to be between 3am and 6am. A future event like this should be prevented from happening again,” Cllr O’Brien said.

Cllr Frank O’Flynn said he is calling on the OPW and Cork County Council to give a ‘full and comprehensive report on how the flooding occurred in Brian Boru Square.

“Up to €34 million has been spent on flood alleviation in Fermoy and we were always told that this system would work. This should not have happened. For the residents and businesses in Brian Boru Square, as they have no insurance, Cork County Council should come to their aid,” Cllr O’Flynn stated.

CONFIRMATION OF PUMP FAILURE

An update issued by Cork County Council on Wednesday morning, stated that the Fermoy river levels peaked at approximately 5am and were approximately 22cm below their highest recorded level of 4.48m in December 2015.

Bridge Street in Fermoy remained closed at the time, with council lorries on-site to draw water out of the area with the road to ‘reopen as soon as river levels recede further’.

The update also noted that three properties in the Fermoy area were impacted in total.

A statement issued to The Avondhu by Cork County Council read: “Cork County Council can confirm that the pump did not work effectively and the matter is currently under investigation”.