MOTORS OPINION FLOODINGDublin airport was an island last week when floods closed the roads. But what's the problem? It's simple: the drains aren't big enough, argues Tim O'Brien
THE NATIONAL Roads Authority (NRA) has said it is still investigating what caused the floods of the last two weeks; why the drains were unable to cope; and why so many new roads in the localised area of north county Dublin had to be closed.
The authority has refuted reports that the Dublin Port Tunnel was flooded. It said the problem was that the M1 road north of the tunnel was flooded and closed. Therefore, there was no point in having the tunnel open.
The authority also acknowledged the M50 and N3 at Blanchardstown were both flooded and closed at the same time.
The NRA said yesterday that when it ascertains the cause of the closures it will assess the implication for the existing road network, and a 10-week review may then take place to ascertain what might be done.
I am in a position beloved of all reporters, able to make the definitive witness statement. I was there. I know what the problem was: rain.
I arrived in Dublin airport on Saturday, August 9th, at 7pm. There were a lot of bemused looking Italians on a flight from Rome. Between 6.30pm and 8pm more then 40mm of rain fell.
The airport "blue buses", we were told, could not access the M1 or the M50 and the only ones leaving were heading towards Belfast.
The road approaching the airport from the M1 flooded, so not even taxis were getting in. The M50 at the Ballymun exit was flooded, we were told. The airport was an island. The Italians looked shell-shocked and shivered in their shorts.
So, what was wrong? The drains weren't big enough. There was too much rain. It wouldn't flow down the drains.
I got a taxi with my family with difficulty. One hour later we were in Ballymun. By the time we got to Delgany in north Wicklow it was 10.40pm and the bill had risen to €140. Even at that price my main fear was that the taxi driver - from Swords - would refuse to go on.
It was like something out of the Twilight Zone, as is the NRA response. We are told that this was a "very rare, exceptional rain event", as if that makes it acceptable
I have a different response. I think the new drains aren't big enough. I think that you, the NRA, failed to make them big enough because you failed to adequately account for global warming. At the same time that the NRA was seemingly implying that nothing could or should be done, John Sweeney of the department of geography at NUI Maynooth was warning that we should expect more of these events.
Gerald Fleming of Met Éireann agreed and said we should be planning for these events.
"We haven't been thinking in long enough terms," he told The Irish Times.
The NRA said yesterday that it plans its drainage for national roads to be able to cope with a "one-in-50-years event". It said it also takes into account that one-in-50-year events are now more severe, so its drainage design is evolving. The authority is using the best available data and copying best practice from Britain.
So again, that is all right then. Only it is not. I wish I had recorded the looks on the faces of those Italians. How, they seemed to be saying, could this happen in the modern world?
One asked, "Do they have bears here?" It was a joke. I think.
Fleming cites the example of Catalonia, in northeast Spain, which incorporates Barcelona and is known for its sunshine. There they have storm drains capable of dealing with flash flooding of up to 400mm. The storm drains are unused for up to 95 per cent of the time, but they are there when needed.
This is what we will have to do because our drains are simply not big enough.
I saw them, they were not blocked and the water went down rapidly enough when the rain stopped.
But by then it was too late for the motorists sacrificed to the one in 50 years rule.