MOUNTAIN RESCUE:AN 80-YEAR-OLD MAN slept through a series of landslides which cut off his mountain home in Arigna on the Sligo/Roscommon border, unaware that he was at the centre of an intensive rescue attempt in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Paddy Daly of Glen, Ballinashee, Arigna, refused to leave his home when members of Sligo/Leitrim mountain rescue team eventually reached him at 2am yesterday having battled landslides measuring 300ft in places.
The Strandhill-based Coast Guard helicopter, local fire service and an ambulance had earlier fought in vain to reach Mr Daly's home, but were hampered by the torrential rain and changing landscape as flood waters swept away parts of the mountain ridge.
The Arigna and Geevagh areas were among the worst hit by Wednesday night's prolonged rainfall in the northwest, with some minor roads swept away while several houses in counties Leitrim and Sligo were flooded.
A sports field and resource centre in Geevagh at the foot of the mountain which had recently been developed at a cost of almost €1 million - and was due to be officially opened later this month by Sligo county manager Hubert Kearns - was among the worst of the casualties.
"The mountain just slid down, the river burst its banks and flowed diagonally across the pitch and the damage has been devastating," said local Fine Gael councillor Gerard Mullaney.
The dressing rooms and gymnasium were flooded, causing an estimated €200,000 worth of damage.
Locals pointed out that the pitch had been destroyed by a landslide in 1984, when only the goalposts were visible after some 80,000 cubic metres of peat, vegetation and water poured down the mountain. "The community rallied, invested in their youth and now this happens. But we will re-group. Nobody died," said club chairman Timmy McGrath.
The worst damage was in the Glen area of Arigna where, according to Alan Sayers of Sligo/Leitrim mountain rescue team, conditions were treacherous due to the continuously changing landscape and torrential rain.
The team was called in by the Sligo fire chief after the local Coast Guard helicopter was forced to abort its mission due to poor visibility and the proximity of wind turbines on the mountain top.
"We were called out at about 10.30pm and told that an elderly man was stranded in his home and in possible danger from further landslides," said Mr Sayers.
He said the Geevagh to Arigna road had been cut off by landslides and he and team leader Trevor Lindsey eventually reached Mr Daly's house at 2am. "It was pitch black, the rain was bucketing down and the map kept changing."
He said that as Mr Daly lived in a dip, it would have been impossible for any vehicle to get to the door of his house. The team had intended to stretcher Mr Daly out using ropes and anchors and spent two hours trying to persuade him to leave the house. "It would have been challenging," Mr Sayers agreed, adding that Mr Daly was "perfectly within his rights" not to leave.
Mr Daly's nephew, Patsy Daly, said that such an evacuation would have caused more stress for an elderly man. "In fairness to those people they got out of their beds to help, but if they had to take him out on a stretcher it would have caused him more stress," he said. "He has seen this many times before and to be honest was in his bed asleep when he heard someone tapping his window at 2am."
Sligo County Council said its emergency road crews dealt with a number of serious road flooding problems in rural Sligo. A spokeswoman said that the Glen to Arigna road was still blocked last night but staff were hoping to have it cleared today.
