A clean-up has begun in Killarney, Co Kerry, this morning after “unprecedented” flash flooding overwhelmed much of the town and its surroundings.
The heavy downpours led to the closure of all main roads in and around Killarney. A number of vehicles that became stuck had to be removed by the fire service.
Heavy rain began around 5pm but the worst of the downpour occurred between 7pm and 8pm with about 30mm recorded at Muckross House weather station outside the town. It recorded a total of 57mm in under four hours, akin to a red level alert.
The N71 Muckross Road, the main tourist road to Killarney National Park, was flooded, as was the N22 Cork-to-Killarney Road at Pike Hill.
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Homes in New Street as well as domestic garages and houses in the village of Fossa outside Killarney were affected with water chutes and downpipes overwhelmed.
The fire service and gardaí worked to clear the roads of traffic while the Civil Defence was called in to deliver sandbags.
Water was pumped from a number of areas including the railway bridge on the Park Road and Woodlawn Cross.
The mayor of Killarney, Cllr John O’Donoghue, described it as the worst flooding in a lifetime.
“Killarney got lashed with rain,” he said, noting that other parts of the county remained dry.
“The whole town was submerged under water to a great extent,” O’Donoghue of the Kerry Independent Alliance said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s David McCullagh show, he said some people had to abandon their cars after they drove into water not realising how deep it was. He also said he received calls last night from “quite upset elderly people saying that ‘there’s water flowing in my door, I’ve never seen it before and I’ve lived here all my life, what can I do’, so very, very scary times.”
The county was not under a weather warning and the area is not typically prone to flooding. O’Donoghue said the ground was “so hard” given the recent dry spell that there was no soakage and so it flowed out into the streets and roads.
Paul Neary, director of services with Kerry County Council, said: “We had no indication. There was nothing to indicate this was coming. Effectively the skies opened.”
The town’s drainage system was overwhelmed in places. Leaves and twigs that had built up over the dry summer were washed down and caused blockages.
However, council crews managed to clear the system and as soon as the rainfall stopped, the drainage system worked, he said.
A full assessment was being carried out this morning, Neary said and lessons would be taken on board.
High Street business owner Johnny McGuire said he experienced an “apocalyptic storm” and he was assessing roof damage.
McGuire of Bricín restaurant and craft shop paid tribute to the “fantastic emergency services” for their response.
He said the dry summer had left the ground extremely hard. Killarney was situated in a hollow and neither “God nor man could have stopped it [the flooding]”.
In a statement this morning, Kerry County Council said the town’s swimming pool and sports centre near the Park Road, one of the worst affected areas, would remain closed until further notice as an assessment was required.
It said it would continues to liaise with properties impacted by the flooding and will provide any assistance required.
