Local businesses in Co Louth still counting the cost of a stormy 2023

Eight weeks after torrential flooding swept through their premises, Cooley peninsula businesses in Co Louth are still waiting to be assessed for assistance under the Government support schemes.

On October 31st the area was hit by very heavy rains leading to unprecedented flooding in the villages of Omeath, Ravensdale and Carlingford.

In the wake of Storm Babet and the flooding in Midleton, Co Cork, just two weeks before the Louth floods, the Government announced that support would be made available to affected households and businesses.

But, as Christmas arrived, businesses were still awaiting payments.

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“We’re left out here on a limb,” said Frankie McRory, owner of Lumpers Bar in Ravensdale.

When the storm landed, rainwater came flooding down from the Cooley Mountains behind his pub along a narrow road as far as the crossroads where the property is located. The water went on to flood his pub.

“You saw the pictures; the water came up to the skirting board – there was silt, dirt,” McRory said.

There is still no sign of any payments being made.

“Everything is all documented,” he said. “No one has come out to assess the pub.”

Under the Government financial support schemes, businesses affected could apply for a quick payment of €5,000 under the Emergency Business Flooding Scheme up to a maximum of €20,000. Subsequently, an enhanced Emergency Business Flooding Scheme was made available where businesses could apply for €10,000 up to a maximum of €100,000. As with similar adverse weather events in the past, the Irish Red Cross is administering and making payments under the schemes on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

[ Almost 40 flood-hit businesses apply for emergency funding in wake of Storm Babet ]

[ Storm Babet: A slow-moving train of rain hit Ireland. The results were disastrous ]

Households impacted could apply for relief under the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme and assistance was also made available to community, voluntary and sporting bodies under the Emergency Flood relief scheme.

A two-arch stone bridge straddles the crossroads under which runs Ballymakellet river near McRory’s pub.

“The bridge is still not cleared, no one came out to assess it,” he said. One of the arches is totally blocked with boulders while the other is partially blocked.

It is clear that the stress of the situation is having an effect on McRory, who has just completed repairs and renovations to the pub.

“We have insurance, but it won’t cover the flood,” he said.

“We were shut for a month, but you’re never covered for loss of income and you’re still paying the workers,” said Andrew Moore, the pub’s assistant manager.

McRory and Moore carried out remedial works along the roadside outside the pub.

“The drains and gullies on the road were blocked, we cleared them, we cleared the manholes and the roads, we hired machinery. We did the council’s job for them,” said McRory.

On Monday, December 11th the area was affected by heavy rains again. This time they lasted for five hours. The rainwater reached Base Camp, the mobile coffee shop outside McRory’s bar, blocking up drains at the crossroads again.

Asked whether he thought climate change was having an effect, McRory said “I’m sure it is. But it’s more than that... there’s no prevention around this area, no maintenance at all”.

The second half of 2023 left households and businesses dealing with adverse weather events. Storms Agnes, Babet, Ciarán, Debi, Elin, Fergus and Gerrit all left their mark on the country. According to weather forecasting service Met Éireann, there were eleven named storms during the year and three alone in December: Elin, Fergus and Gerrit.

[ In pictures: Storm Debi leaves behind flooded businesses, fallen trees and marooned boats ]

But how does the number of storms in 2023 compare with previous years?

“This year, we have had six named storms since September which is approaching the average we might get in a year (8 since storm naming began in 2015/16),” said Sandra Spillane, climatologist at Met Éireann speaking ahead of the post-Christmas Storm Gerrit that left almost 2,000 homes without power in the south and southeast.

“So compared to last year, we have an unusually high number of storms this season.”

There is uncertainty about what 2024 and future years may bring.

“It is unclear how the frequency and intensity of storms impacting Ireland will change with climate change. Further research is needed in this area, while sea level rise is expected to increase storm surge and coastal flooding risk around Irish coasts,” said Spillane.

However, it is predicted that climate change will have an impact on rainfall.

“There is high confidence in the climate projections that maximum rainfall rates will increase as a result of a warmer atmosphere carrying more moisture,” she said.

Naturally, those affected by the floods are looking for certainty. Not far from Ravensdale, in the seaside village of Carlingford, popular with tourists, business owners are still feeling the effects of October’s floods.

“The Four Seasons Hotel, Mia Mullen jewellers, the Carlingford Adventure Centre, Ma Baker’s pub, PJ O’Haire’s pub, the Ghan House, they all had to close,” said Eileen Long of Azure, a ladies’ fashion boutique.

In Ma Baker’s pub, Aidan Baker, manager and one of the owners, said he saved the front bar but lost the cocktail bar, the snug and the parlour.

“We did three twenty-four-hour shifts with pumps and sandbags,” he said.

He explained how the floodwater arrived at his bar.

The walls by the yard were washed out of it, the access road and bridge were washed away

—  Tomas O'Reilly

“When the water was coming down off the mountain and it was meeting the water from the tide there was nowhere for the water to go so it was just building up outside, it was five foot over the windows,” he said.

The water was even coming up through the manholes, he added.

He too is waiting to be assessed for the damage incurred. “Everything is sent away, but nothing has come back. No one from the Council has come out to look at the problem with the manholes,” he said.

In the Glenmore Valley, farmer Tomas O’Reilly was also badly affected by the floods.

“The walls by the yard were washed out of it, the access road and bridge were washed away,” he said.

O’Reilly has spent €2,000 on repairs so far with another “seven to eight” thousand needed. His slatted tank was also flooded with water which had to be emptied by a contractor.

“The flood came off the mountain and went straight into the sheds and flooded the tank in the slatted shed,” he said.

However, it appears that farmers cannot apply for relief under the various Red Cross schemes. O’Reilly is concerned for the future given all the rain that has come since the floods in October.

“We are waiting by panic stations, no repairs are being made and any damage there is, is just getting worse,” he said.

A spokesman for the Irish Red Cross confirmed that seven applicants in Louth have received their initial payments under the Government’s flooding relief funds and that four further applicants would receive their initial payments before the end of the week before Christmas with a further 11 applicants being processed or who have submitted incomplete forms. Eight applicants were deemed not eligible for the scheme.

“Generally these [Louth] applications were received at the end of November, start of December so are not as far along as other applications, for example in Cork,” the spokesman said the week before Christmas.

“One of our assessors was in Carlingford last week and carried out a number of assessments. These applicants will receive their second payments in the new year.”

The spokesman said there had been “no delay” in administering applications for this scheme in Co Louth on the part of the Irish Red Cross.

“We have to be very careful as this is taxpayers money... we are acutely aware of the urgency for which these funds are needed,” he said.

More than €3.2 million has been paid to 164 applicants nationally, the spokesman said.

Local Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú said that Dundalk was also impacted, with flood protection measures needed, as storm water was meeting with waste water from the sewage system.

He acknowledged while repairs on certain roads had started, there was a need to “ensure the Government follows through”.

Local Co Louth businesses are concerned about future adverse weather events and the quick release of funds for emergency relief if flood waters start to rise again.

“What happens if this happens again?” asked Aidan Baker of Ma Baker’s pub in Carlingford. “Will we have to wait for another six to eight weeks?”

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