Council staff earn Special Recognition Award for Inishowen flood response

Donegal County Council has been honoured with a Special Recognition Award at the 2019 Community and Council Awards for their response to the Inishowen Floods.

The award was presented to staff and management who were involved in the emergency operation at a special event in Croke Park on Saturday.

John McLaughlin, Director of Service in Donegal County Council and Manager of Inishowen Municipal District said: “We are delighted to receive this special recognition award which acknowledges the outstanding response of our own staff, management and of course elected members to the devastating floods in Inishowen in August 2017.”

He added “on receiving this award, it is important to acknowledge the tremendous co-operation and assistance we received from various organisations and Government Departments. The generosity shown by, not only the community of Inishowen, but also by people from across the country and from our diaspora especially in the US, was outstanding.”

A one in a 100-year flood event on Tuesday 22nd August 2017 saw Donegal County Council leading out a multi-agency flood emergency response to ensure that the affected communities were able to return to their daily lives as quickly as possible.

The Fire Service response prioritised rescue and life-saving operations, which included the rescue of people trapped in stranded vehicles and, at its peak, there were nine separate Fire Brigades mobilised to separate incidents with 85 fire-fighters engaged in flood operations.

Over 200 hundred homes were flooded and their contents destroyed. These homes were in multiple locations across Inishowen but principally in and around Burnfoot, Buncrana and Carndonagh areas.

Around fifty families were long-term displaced from their homes, rendering them homeless in the immediate aftermath of the incident. A dedicated helpline was set up and managed by the Council’s Housing Service based in Carndonagh Public Services Centre in order to deal with families requiring assistance including emergency accommodation.

An outreach centre was also opened in Buncrana GAA Club where people could access the services from a range of agencies including the Department of Social Protection, the Irish Red Cross, the Samaritans and a professional counselling service.

The damage to the road network was extensive, with many bridges and culverts damaged or destroyed.

Five main regional roads had to be closed due to bridge collapses and numerous local roads also had to be closed due to bridge collapse or having been washed away. Landslides, surface damage, road edge collapse, etc. also contributed to the overwhelming damage caused. It was estimated that over 600 roads and or bridges were either damaged or destroyed in the flood.

This led to an initial clean-up cost of €1.5M with road / bridge repair costs estimated in the region of €15M+. The Council’s Roads team worked tirelessly in the months following the flood to repair damage caused with much of the work completed in time for the hosting of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in July 2018 and while most repairs are now complete there still remains some outstanding work to be completed and this is being pursued.

The damage to the water supply network was also significant and six wastewater treatment plants were affected by flooding.

 

Hundreds of businesses, sporting and community buildings and facilities were either destroyed or damaged and hundreds of livestock were lost during the incident.

John McLaughlin said being recognised with a Community and Council Award is a great honour saying “this award acknowledges the work done by our team in Donegal County Council and recognises their dedication and tireless work during what was a very difficult time for all involved. I believe that the response by Donegal County Council to this incident, and the follow up actions in the aftermath, was an example of public service of the highest order.”

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