Newbridge manages to avoid flooding to property
Flooding at Roseberry Court, Newbridge last wee
Newbridge managed to avoid the worst possible outcomes from the heavy rain and flooding over recent days.
There was flooding of green spaces as well footpaths and roads but there was no damage to homes.
Photos sent to the show substantial flooding to roads and footpaths in the Raymonds Court and Rosebery Court residential areas as well as high water levels in the river at locations in Liffey Linear Park and Riverside Park.
All rainfall warnings expired for Kildare on Friday, but a statement from Kildare County Council that day noted the “continuous high levels” in the River Liffey and Poulaphouca Rerservoir. The message was one of caution, which was matched by Newbridge councillor Chris Pender when he spoke to us on Friday.
Speaking to the Kildare Nationalist on Monday, the Social Democrats councillor struck a tone of relief, describing the proactivity of KCC workers in the area as “second to none”.
“I'm not saying that anybody's homes would have been destroyed but their proactivity, their ensuring that they were on site, the sandbags were there, that the pumping was happening, like that in and of itself has prevented what was pretty scary for some people.”
He noted the flooding of green spaces as well as roads and foot paths but there was no flooding of gardens or homes because of the proactivity of county council on the ground.
He continued: “The municipal district staff, the parks team, they have been like from date dot assessing and preparing rather than reacting. Yeah, so we have been extremely lucky here as a result of the dedication of those staffs to be out and ready to go.”
Cllr Pender also praised Niall O’Riordan, senior assistant chief fire officer at Kildare Fire Service.
As well striking a positive tone on the work carried out in recent times, clr Pender noted that there was an element of luck involved and that matters could have been worse in different circumstances.
“We were lucky Poulaphouca (resevoir) didn't need to release significantly more. Like if they had released double what they did release, we would have been in severe difficulty.”
Cllr Pender said that there needs to be real-time monitoring of water levels and said that the council needs to generate information for itself. He criticized the ESB’s communication, saying that information coming from them on Poulaphouca is inadequate.
He said that the overly technical nature of information coming from the ESB caused panic for residents in the Newbridge area, who feared that their homes could be flooded.
It appears that there will be relief from the heavy rain and flooding, with Met Éireann forecasting a return to drier weather for Kildare and across the country later this week.
