17 families across Inishowen are homeless following Tuesday night’s freak flooding in the peninsula.
In the wake of the flooding, a Donegal County Councillor has called for the demolition of six houses at a Council-owned estate due to the ongoing issue, highlighted on Tuesday.
A month’s worth of rain fell in the space of three hours on Tuesday night causing destruction and devastation across Inishowen.
An emergency meeting of the Inishowen Municipal District today in Carndonagh heard that 39 people were rescued from dwellings or vehicles over the course of the night.
Aideen Doherty, the area manager for Housing and Corporate Services, confirmed: “17 families have presented as homeless to the Council and we are continuing to work with them. We have offered B&B services, but most are staying with close family and friends. We are in constant dialogue with these people.
“Our initial responders ensured that families were brought to safety and we had staff on the ground from around 6.30 in the evening.”
Donegal County Council’s Director of Services for Roads and Transportation, John McLaughlin, outlined that skips are available from the Council for public and private usage, while the Council has also put security in place at homes that have had to be evacuated.
He said: “Money won’t be an obstacle here. We will do our best. We will not hold back. We have a responsibility to this area.”
Fianna Fail County Councillor Paul Canning, in his role as an architect, has put together a report on the condition of property at three estates – Lios Na Geine, Pairc an Ghrianain Burnfoot and at Stoney Bridge in Bridgend.
On Tuesday night, six houses in the Stoney Bridge estate and 12 in Lois na Greine had the ground floor ruined, the diesel tank and oil burner destroyed.
Some of the flooding in Burnfoot.
At Pairc An Ghrianain in Burnfoot, which is Council-owned, six houses are prone to flooding and have flooded several times in the past, Councillor Canning reports.
“This estate is Council owned and a decision must be made by Donegal County Council to demolish the six most northerly semi-detached dwellings, rather than spending good money on a problematic low level estate that will cost too much to rectify,” Councillor Canning’s report says.
“Given the problematic treatment system within close proximity of the site and the fact that six semi-detached dwelling had water level of 900mm internally, the contamination level within these house re-occurring for a second time puts these dwelling on a high habitable risk for residents.”
Councillor Canning has recommended that the Council take over the Lois na Greine estate ‘with a view to sort out the treatment system that services this estate’, adding that a boundary is required to protect it from future flooding, while the Stoney Bridge estate needs its treatment system connected to the main sewer, while it also requires a retaining wall.
Councillor John Ryan added: “Those houses shouldn’t be built where they are built. We can spend money forever on these issues, but will we sort these issues? One house I saw on Tuesday evening has been flooded seven times in ten years – that house, in car terms is a write-off.”
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