VIDEO: Questions must be asked as to why this picturesque village was left defenceless to the threat of flooding

Angry residents who saw their homes destroyed by floodwaters over the Bank Holiday weekend want urgent answers as to why their frequent warnings that such a disaster was waiting to happen went unheeded.

More than that, they want assurances that urgent remedial works will be carried out to ensure the carnage visited upon over 30 homes in the Village Estate can't happen again.

Torrential rain late Friday and into the early hours of Saturday morning and afternoon coupled with high tides saw the picturesque estate that was originally a holiday home development, engulfed by floodwaters destroying everything in its path with waters carrying raw sewage running under and into people's homes.

Despite the best efforts of the emergency services flood waters breached floors and doors of all but two of the estate’s homes, with contaminated water laying waste to furnishings, bedding and electrical appliances.

The scenes of devastation on the Village Estate and Eastham Road have led to calls to urgent flood prevention measures to be put in place while representations have been made to the Taoiseach's office to request urgent compensation for victims of the weekend's flooding.

"It's the whole of the Village Estate which has something like 36 or 37 homes and only one or two of those have not been affected, the rest are completely flooded," said local Cllr Sharon Tolan speaking from the scene.

According to Cllr Tolan the risk of flooding to the area has risen dramatically in recent years with newer housing developments built on flood plains. Housing schemes added to the locality have had flood defences included in their planning and design but questions are being asked as to why older existing estates such as The Village were not upgraded despite repeated warnings.

"In 2005, cllrs, against the advice of planners in Meath Co Council voted to make the area now known as the Northlands Estate residential and once zoning is given their hands are tied regarding granting planning permission.

The Northlands estate includes two massive underground tanks designed to gather large volumes of water when the need arises. Council staff monitor flood possibilities and man two pumps that move surface water to the tanks.

Cllr Tolan says the pumps are needed because “we are smack in the middle of so many different streams and in between two major rivers (the Nanny and the Boyne)."

Cllr Tolan believes the intense rainfall that fell in the early hours of Saturday morning coupled with a very high tide meant there was no way to alleviate the pressure on the affected estates.

"Even though the council were pumping it out of the Northlands, the water had nowhere to go. Meanwhile, the water levels continued to rise in the Village Estate and the Eastham Caravan Park and now we have over 30 homes completely destroyed."

Council Chief Executive (Fiona Lawless) visited the site yesterday today (Monday) and Meath Co Council are dropping skips to aid homeowners with the clean up of debris and wrecked belongings.

"I've contacted the Taoiseach because a compensation package has to be put in place for these residents. They have no insurance because they are on a flood plain," said Cllr Tolan adding that had a flood mitigation scheme been delivered for their estate as well as the Northlands, this wouldn't have happened.

"The OPW really needs to act, they've known about this for years, they took the responsibility from Meath Co Council to deliver these flood mitigation measures and as far as I can see they have dragged their heels. Commitments were made to residents and it just hasn't happened."

"The Government needs to step in here and make sure people are compensated and assisted."

It's understood that the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management which co-ordinates emergency responses and gives support to the Irish Fire Service have requested the Dept of Social Protection to engage their Community Welfare Officers with local residents so they can assist with what humanitarian aid is required.

"Some of these people are very vulnerable people, some are renting, some are elderly. "It's been a really worrying and upsetting couple of days for an awful lot of people.”

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UPDATE: Wednesday 9th August 9am.

Response from OPW

On Saturday 5th August last the Office of Public Works (OPW) were requested by Meath County Council to provide assistance in the Mornington area. Meath County Council requested the OPW to provide one 8 inch mobile pump to be placed at Lady’s Finger Bridge and a number of OPW operatives attended on site to set up the pumping operation.

There are additional works proposed for the Mornington Flood Relief Scheme and in the coming days the OPW will engage with Meath County Council and OPW’s design engineers, RPS, to determine the exact nature of the flood event of the 5th August, the associated mechanism(s) of flooding and, subsequent to that, will determine what measures can be incorporated into the design of any proposed works to mitigate against future flooding risks in the Bettystown and Mornington area.

Mornington Flood Relief Scheme

The Mornington Flood Relief Scheme, consented to under the Arterial Drainage Acts, 1945 and 1995, was substantially completed in 2013, providing protection to some 162 properties. This flood relief scheme has a design standard of 1% AEP (annual exceedance probability or chance) for a fluvial flood event and 0.5% AEP for a coastal flood event. The OPW directly managed the construction of the existing flood defences and funded the development of these defences.

The Mornington FRS is maintained annually by the OPW East Region Drainage Maintenance Section. Maintenance involves silt and vegetation removal from circa 3km of channel, and vegetation management on circa 5km of embankment. Maintenance is generally carried out in Q4 of each year.