Flood maps queried at Tipp council meeting

Cllr Marie Murphy has made a recent call for more information on OPW Flood Maps, citing an example of a property that she stated was at little risk of flooding, being half a mile away from a river.

Speaking at April’s Cahir Municipal District meeting, Cllr Murphy said that the house, between Clogheen and Ardfinnan, was quite a distance from the water body, and said “we’d all be in trouble if that place flooded!”

“Someone who goes to get insurance and can’t, because they’re in a flood plain, and I can’t see why. This issue is going to keep cropping up. I’d like some further info, as it seems that insurance companies are taking liberties”, the local councillor finished.

The OPW’s flood map for the area shows much of the surrounding areas of the Rivers Tar and Suir as being areas of ‘High Probability’ of flooding. However, their own website notes that “The purpose of the Flood

Maps is not to designate individual properties at risk of flooding.They are community-based maps.”

The OPW’s description of the flood maps is “to provide valuable information for a range of purposes. This includes increasing awareness among the general public, Local Authorities and other organisations, of the likelihood of flooding and informing flood risk management activities by the Government to prevent and reduce the risk and impact from future flooding.

“The Flood Maps are not creating new flood risk, but they are, for the first time, setting out the extent of the exposure to flood risk in many communities, as part of the Government’s strategy to plan for the most effective schemes and solutions to manage this risk. Therefore, the Flood Maps may highlight areas at risk of flooding that have no past experience of flooding. This should not be interpreted to mean that the areas will flood, just that there is a chance that they may flood in the future.”