Investigation into Fermoy flooding continues

‘Every aspect’ of the malfunction which occurred at a pumping station at Rathealy Road in Fermoy that led to the flooding of three businesses is being investigated and the council is ‘currently reviewing its existing protocols and systems’.

News of this comes following a motion put forward by Cllr Frank O’Flynn at this week's Northern Committee Meeting on Monday.

The motion sought a ‘detailed comprehensive report’ on why the flood alleviation plan failed for Fermoy and requested that the council outline the remedial precautions that will be put in place to ensure there will not be a reoccurrence.

The response noted that on February 24, there was a malfunction in the pumping station at Rathealy Road, which resulted in stormwater build-up leading to water ingress at three premises in Brian Boru Square.

A number of measures were also outlined in the response which are expected to be implemented following the review including a pump station checklist, a revised maintenance schedule, a trial run in advance of flood events, and on-site checks during major flood events.

“It is important to point out that the Fermoy flood relief scheme, with the exception of the pumping station issue above, operated as intended and floodwaters from the Blackwater river were prevented from inundating the town,” the response read.

Cllr O’Flynn welcomed the response while also commending the demountable barriers, stating that many more houses could have been damaged had these not been in place.

He went on to ask when the final report is likely to be available and suggested that a member of staff should be ‘on duty at all stages during the flood’.

Manager James Fogarty agreed with Cllr O'Flynn, citing that 92 properties would have been damaged if the flood defences had not worked as intended and noted that this was the third Level 6 flood since 2015.

'MIGHTY UNFORTUNATE'

The motion was widely supported and the response welcomed by many councillors attending the online meeting, with councillors Noel McCarthy and Kay Dawson noting that they had submitted a similar motion to Tuesday's Fermoy Municipal District meeting.

“The big thing to note is while there was a problem, it was a minor one. The flood defence scheme has been a great success in Fermoy because the barriers and the flood relief have worked so well. It’s a glitch and I’m sure it will be resolved going forward,” Cllr Dawson said.

Cllr McCarthy commended contractors and council outdoor staff who ‘ worked in atrocious weather’ to put the demountable barriers in place.

“Going forward, it’s prevention that is needed here. What happened has happened, but overall it was a huge success,” he added.

Both councillors William O’Leary and Deirdre O’Brien placed emphasis on future prevention, while Cllr O’Brien highlighted that events notifications issued, stated that the situation would be monitored overnight and claims she was ‘surprised’ that there was no one on site after 3am when the flooding began.

Manager James Fogarty responded to councillors queries stating: “There's nothing that humans do that’s not subject to some sort of failure.”

He highlighted the double failure which occurred in that sensors did not cut the pump in and that the alarm didn’t go off.

“I acknowledge that it is mighty unfortunate when people get flooded and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody and we do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen but the facts are that the defences worked,” Mr Fogarty said.