Deluge catches Glasnevin pub by surprise

BUSINESS DISRUPTED:PATRONS OF the Tolka House pub in Glasnevin, Dublin, were enjoying a late afternoon lunch in badly need sunshine yesterday afternoon.

There was no trace of the scarcely believable scene on Saturday evening when a torrent of water came hurtling down the hill and through the doors of what is one of Dublin's most picturesque pubs.

Assistant manager Colin Keown pulled out his mobile phone to show a car parked outside the pub door yesterday afternoon, half submerged in water.

"From about 3pm the shores couldn't take any more water," he said.

"They were completely blocked from 5.15pm and within a minute the rain came in the door.

"Once the rain came in there was no stopping it. It was as simple as that. The water was up three or four feet both front and back.

"We have been flooded four times in the last five years, but yesterday was definitely the worst."

Staff at the pub opened a shore in the toilet to let the water flow through and they got specialised equipment in to mop up the rest.

Water flooded the car park at the back of the pub to a depth of 3ft and many motorists from Armagh, who had watched their team being beaten by Wexford, returned to find their cars covered in water.

Many had to wait hours for tow trucks and several reported not getting home until the early hours of Sunday morning.

Further down the hill at the Tolka Deli, owner Sharon Boyle took mobile video footage of water up to the levels of the bins on the street outside.

She said: "I was about to close up at 4pm and the sky got really dark. In a matter of 10 minutes, the rain came rolling down the hill and I was saying, 'Holy God, how am I going to get out of here'. The current was going so fast it was frightening," she said.

Helen Daly from Hollybank Road said the council was partially to blame for the flooding.

"The shores are never cleaned the whole year around and the roads are never swept."

Other businesses in the area were also affected by the flooding.