Second flood event in weeks devastates Bettystown housing estates

A “traumatic” second major flooding event in less than three months saw a number of housing estates in east meath devastated by rainfall over the weekend with others having “a lucky escape.”

Two homes on the Golf Links Road and one in the Village estate in Bettystown bore the brunt of the impact on Friday night with many more coming close in the Dunes estate, St Nicholas Village, Fairways and Foxbury according to local Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan who is calling on a flood relief scheme to be established.

Torrential rain coupled with high tides saw over 30 homes in Bettystown destroyed by flooding in August.

"I’ve never witnessed anything like it,” said Tolan.

"It was just horrific but I have to hand it to Meath County Council ground staff and the engineers who were out here with people , they really worked throughout the night particularly in the village to prevent those 22 homes that were flooded in August from being flooded again,” she added.

In August water was unable to be pumped out from the estate due to the exceptionally high spring tide but this time emergency teams were able to pump out into the stream which was at lower level saving many homes from flooding a second time according to the local councillor who said:

"One house in the Village did flood but the rest of them we managed to save. They are not even back on their feet yet, this is eleven weeks since the last flood in the Village estate. Every time we have heavy rain they are worried sick.

"I was in one or two of them, they have their beds up on crates to prevent any further damage to them and that is no way to live.

"Some of us put sandbags around some of the homes that were empty because people had started to carry out repairs and many haven;’t moved back in yet so some of them weren’t even at home and aware how serious the situation was."

Although fewer homes were impacted this time around, the situation was much more alarming according to Tolan who said:

"There was a massive amount of water flooding in all of the gardens, people were actually stranded in their homes for large parts of the day on Saturday.”

“It was really traumatic to witness.

"We were just blessed that there weren’t more homes flooded,” she added.

Tolan is calling on an OPW report on the last flood event to be published.

"An awful lot of extra areas that didn’t flood the last time flooded this time and the fact that the tide was out is a serious concern to me and these areas still flooded.

"We need the report, we need to know what the plan is, people can’t live like this, this is only October and we have the whole winter ahead."

Meanwhile Cllr Stephen McKee is calling for immediate flood prevention works to be undertaken by Meath County Council to prevent future flooding of homes in East Meath following a second flooding event in the space of a few months in the area.

Cllr McKee stated: "The recent heavy rainfall and flooding of a number of homes in Mornington and Bettystown shows just how important it is that flood prevention works are carried out to resolve this.

"This is the second time this has happened in the space of only a few months. We know that such heavy periods of rainfall will happen again and that flooding is happening more regularly in the area.

"The council need to identify what needs to be done and to carry out work as a matter of urgency. The situation is now a crisis."