Properties and businesses left counting the cost of flash flooding in Kilkenny

Properties and businesses across Kilkenny City have been left counting the cost of ‘unprecedented’ flash flooding in recent days.

Between last Friday and Monday, more than 100mm of rain fell in Kilkenny, the majority of which came down in three short but devastating torrential bursts.

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Business premises on John Street and Patrick Street took on floodwater on Saturday and Monday, and part of the road surface was damaged.

In Fatima Place, an elderly couple were afraid to leave their house as water rushed into the estate, forcing them to miss a vital doctor’s appointment.

Water also entered properties on Lord Edward Street, and damage was only limited there thanks to immense community spirit as residents joined forces to repel the water.

In Newpark Drive, there were reports that the street’s sewage system had been overwhelmed, forcing contaminated water onto the streets. Just down the road, Ballybought Street became impassable as inches of water rose above the paths.

On Monday, councillors were briefed on the situation just after John Street had flooded for the second time.

Free sandbags are available to locals who feel that their home and/or business may be under threat in the event of another sudden downpour.

“Over the course of the weekend, we received numerous calls from different businesses being flooded,” council director of services Tim Butler told members.

“Gullies and drains were not sufficient to take a month’s rain in such a short space of time. On Patrick Street, the drainpipe completely collapsed, causing damage to the newly laid surface there.

“Adding to that, soak holes were at high capacity after the first filling on Saturday and the second bout caused water to lodge for a long period of time.”

As this briefing was taking place, a local resident on John Street was frantically trying to get vehicles to drive slowly through the floodwater.

He told the Kilkenny People that the oncoming vehicles were causing immense stress to a business owner on the street, who was losing the fight to keep the water out of his premises.

Floodwater also spanned the whole width of primary thoroughfares including the Dublin Road, O’Loughlin Road, Castle Road and Nuncio Road.

Council officials have offered free sandbags to locals who feel that their home and/or business may be under threat in the event of another sudden downpour.

They are invited to take sandbags from the council depot on the Gaol Road but to only take what is required to ensure as much as possible availability for those in need.

After the briefing, Cllr Andrew McGuinness told council officials that he appreciated that the situation is unprecedented, but queried how often the shores are pumped out.

“We seem to have the same problematic areas,” he said.

Mr Butler acknowledged that many of the ‘thousands’ of gullies in Kilkenny cause repeat problems.

“Many were addressed recently but issues reoccur,” he said. “A lot of the ones mentioned are at low points, unfortunately that’s what happened on John Street.

“It was the first time we had any flooding on John Street, it was an unprecedented level of rain. Kilkenny was unfortunately hit by the eye of the storm this time.”

Meanwhile, the damage to Patrick Street during the flooding saw a lot of gravel displacement and a tear in the road surfacing.

An emergency closure of the outbound lane will be in place to vehicular traffic from the Parade junction to Ormonde Road junction initially until Friday, June 23 at 4pm to facilitate emergency roadworks to repair it.

The fire service was called in to pump water out of a number of affected premises on Monday.