Emergency services are working to clear heavy flooding in several parts of north Donegal following Storm Debi.
One Dunfanaghy estate that was left totally impassable was Portdale, where residents have been trapped inside since this morning and unable to go to work or school.
Fire services are at the estate this afternoon pumping flood water down Pound Street.
Local resident Geoffrey Black said the issue is a persistent problem. He and his wife Una were unable to get their children out to school or playschool today due to the deep pool of water outside their home. At its worst, the water is around 4ft deep.
Storm Dani Flooding in Portdale, Dunfanaghy
The family and their neighbours have had to deal with flooding of this severity several times a year.
Geoffrey told Donegal Daily: “I’ve stopped calling the council. We are here seven years and I would have been calling a few times a year. The council put up a flood sign on the road once, and that’s the best they can do for us, they keep telling us there’s no money to do anything.
“There is an ESB box that is nearly fully immersed in water. We don’t know if that’s dangerous or not.
“Because of the sheer amount of water gathered, the sewers are also full of rainwater, leading to the sewer water overflowing, which no doubt is an environmental hazard.”
Storm Dani Flooding in Portdale, Dunfanaghy
Geoffrey said he is very grateful to the local fire brigade for their assistance today but questioned if this is an appropriate use of resources if they have to come out on every occasion of flooding.
He is calling on the council to take action, saying: “I’m banging my head against a brick wall here, and I’m fed up with it. We are here seven years, with five children, the youngest is a year and a half. Anytime this happens we can’t get to a shop or nothing. It can take three to four days for water to subside.
“Last year after the flood water had not subsided by the 3rd day we contacted Glenard Plant to pump away the water at our own expense. They took 10 tanker loads of water away.”
Cllr Michael McClafferty has been assisting residents today and said: “The whole flooding situation throughout Donegal is unacceptable.
“Dunfanaghy, Creeslough and Falcarragh got a bad touch today. The fire brigade has been out all morning saving houses from dangerous flooding and trying to reroute water. Council staff are stretched and the fire brigade is doing their best, but at the same time, I know it’s a part of their remit, but it’s a serious resource to have out if something else happens elsewhere.”
Storm Dani Flooding in Portdale, Dunfanaghy
Cllr McClafferty said the flooding policy across Ireland’s towns and rural areas must be revisited as a matter of urgency.
He said: “This is a result of the tactics of the Green Party, our rivers are overgrown, the banks are busting. The drainage systems need to be redone. We need to get things back to how it was years ago, get the diggers into the fields and clean the drains, clear along the roads, dig the drains deeper and winder, and they’ll hold a hell of an amount more water.”
Cllr McClafferty said he plans to raise flooding defences and drainage at the next local and county council meetings, adding that all elected members have to look at the issue as a collective.
“The infrastructure of the day is not fit for purpose,” he said. “The pipes and drainage in our towns are not fit for purpose, equally out through rural areas, outside of our town boundaries, the drainage systems are not getting cleaned and you have briars, bushes, grass and trees in drains where there should be water.”
Cllr McClafferty said he has received reports of everything from shopping trollies and tables blocking ditches.
He said that Ireland’s drains and rivers need to be cleaned or dredged every few years routinely, asking: “How many more houses have to be flooded, how many more lives have to be turned upside down, and how many more people have to lose all their possessions and not get insurance because they live on flood plains in risky areas?”
Donegal Daily has contacted Donegal County Council for a response.
