Reports of storms and floods dominate

A week of floods and storms has made an impression on papers across the country. "Man cheats death in terror ordeal as flood engulfs car", reports the front-page headline of the Kerryman.

The paper recounts an incident where Mr Gerry McNally from Castleisland almost drowned when his car was "engulfed by raging flood waters" near the West Ring Inn outside Ballybunion.

Mr McNally was returning from work at night when his car ran into a torrent where a tributary of the Feale river burst its banks, the paper reports. He managed to escape from his car as water poured through the door and air vents.

"After being forced to abandon his vehicle, Mr McNally then had to cling on to a branch to save himself from being swept away by the flood." He was stranded on a ditch for 30 minutes before another driver came to his assistance and alerted the fire brigade.

The Kerryman also observes that this October was the wettest "in over two decades". The paper quotes statistics recorded by Met Eireann's weather station in Valentia which said the rainfall was "twice the normal level and the highest amount of rain since 1979" in the Kerry area and almost twice the normal level across the rest of the country.

Lifford, Co Donegal, is under threat of flooding from three nearby rivers and is "a disaster waiting to happen", according to the Donegal Democrat. Torrential rain caused the Finn, the Mourne and the Foyle to burst their banks.

"Cars had to be abandoned near Murlog on the Letterkenny road. Pipes burst at Rossgier, the local church and national schools were threatened and a house in town was flooded," the paper reports.

A Fianna Fail councillor, Mr Gerry Crawford, said the situation was "totally unacceptable" and called for an immediate review of the drainage systems in the Lifford area.

The resolution of the long-term flooding problems in Waterford city is to begin next week, according to the Waterford News and Star. The reconstruction of a wall at Scotch Quay is to be the first phase of a "multi-million-pound strategy", the paper reports.

The wall will cost £650,000, the paper says, but once the flood strategy project is completed it will be "the biggest project of its kind to be undertaken in an urban area".

Not so fortunate is the waterlogged community of Strokestown, Co Roscommon, which has been omitted from the recent Department of the Environment allocation of £500,000 to alleviate flooding in the county, the Roscommon Herald reports.

It quotes the chairman of Roscommon County Council, Mr Tom Crosby, as saying: "The Government has let us down badly. This area is affected by the Shannon basin continuously and I find it hard to believe that Strokestown's application has been overlooked." The consequences of last week's Hallowe'en festivities are detailed in the Drogheda In- dependent. The paper reports that a nine-year-old boy received serious burns when a firework with which he was playing exploded.

David Cunningham was playing in the back garden of his home in Drogheda with his 11year-old cousin, Keith, when the firework exploded in their hands. Keith suffered burns to his face and was brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and was later released.

David, whose injuries were more severe, was transferred to the plastic surgery clinic at the children's hospital in Crumlin, the paper says.

The accident follows a week of warnings from the Garda and hospital heads about the dangers of fireworks.

The paper quotes a Lourdes Hospital accident and emergency consultant, Mr Conor Egleston, as saying: "The time for advice is over. What the public need to take on board is that they should never, under any circumstances, handle fireworks if they are not trained to do so."

Reflections on Hallowe'en occupied the editorial of the Limerick Leader. The writer laments the loss of the old pagan spiritual meaning of Hallowe'en.

"Enter the Irish counterpart of the American spoilt brat and the young British yob for, much to the discomfort of the old and frail, eggs are flying and illegal firecrackers punctuate the night."

Ireland is witnessing an "emasculation" of culture by "Anglo-American cultural imperialism", the editorial continues. "We sometimes have difficulty in discovering a happy medium between playing the transatlantic sleeveen and the Catholic Gaelic bigot."

An Englishman wants to dig up the historic Hill of Tara, according to the Drogheda Independent. Mr John Hill "has officially requested permission from the government to dig a hole on the famous Hill of Tara because he believes the biblical Ark of the Covenant is buried there."

Mr Hill believes he has traced the exact location of the Ark using biblical scripture backed up be ancient Irish manuscripts called the Dindshenchas, the paper reports.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaelteacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, had previously turned down Mr Hill's request but he has collected 500 signatures locally supporting the dig and is resubmitting his application. A previous group called the British Israelites carried out a dig in the area in 1898, but found only Roman coins, the paper says.