Climate change contributing to flooding in Ballina

An increase in incidences of flooding partly due to climate change in Ballina is going to force the local authority into moves to develop an entire new drainage system for the Shannonside town and its outskirts.

Marcus O' Connor, Tipperary County Council's Director of Roads, Transportation and Health and Safety told Nenagh Municipal District councillors at their meeting last Thursday that the riverside town was now the local authority's main concern in terms of flooding risks in all of Tipperary.

Earlier, Cllr Phyll Bugler said there had been a total of six major flooding incidents in Ballina within the past year, and incidents of this nature appeared to be rising.

She said all the roads in the town and its approaches were being washed away from huge volumes of water flowing off the nearby Arra Mountains during and in the days after downpours of rain in recent weeks.

The council's Area Engineer Barry Murphy said the latest flooding in the town and on its approaches occurred when “catastrophic” heavy rain fell in the locality for a number of hours.

Mr Murphy said parts of the R494 road between Ballina and Birdhill were blocked due to flooding. “The amount of water coming down off the hills overwhelmed the drainage system,” he revealed.

There was, he said, “a natural depression” on the R494 that had contributed to the flooding. The plan to raise the road as part of the current new Shannon crossing project would provide the solution to the problem.

Mr Murphy said deficiencies in the drainage system in Ballina had been underlined by the flooding on the northern end of the town as a result of the recent heavy rainfall. The system was unable to cope with the vast quantities of water flowing down into the town from the Arra Mountains.

There was no quick solution to the incidents of flooding. The entire drainage piping system needed to be upgraded. The council was treating the issues as a priority but the work would take years to complete.

Referring to the recent flooding Mr Murphy added: “This is an extreme example of climate change in Ballina.”

Referring to other flooding issues on the Birdhill side of the town, Mr Murphy said a large build up of silt in the Kilmastulla River was exacerbating problems, and this would have to be cleared to ensure free flow in the waterway which runs to the Shannon.

Meanwhile, Mr O' Connor told councillors that flooding problems on the R494 near Larkin's Service Station were compounded by a nearby drain that flowed into the Shannon.

When the water in the Shannon rose, as occurred after the latest downpours, there was nowhere for the water flowing from the drain to go, resulting in the road flooding.

Mr O' Connor referred to the flooding problems as “significant”. He added: “We are very concerned about flooding in Ballina, particularly in areas like the Grange Road and some other roads.”

He said there were difficulties due to the capacity of the drainage system. The council would be seeking the assistance of the Office of Public Works to open up drains and culverts and clear channels to deal with the issues. With climate change, these flooding problems were going to arise.

Mr O' Connor said Clonmel, where flooding occurred for decades due to the River Suir overflowing its banks, used to be the main concern in terms of such risks. But the issue there had now been resolved and the main concern for the council now in terms of flooding risk was Ballina.

Cllr Phyll Bugler, who first raised the issue, said the flooding had resulted in large potholes appearing on the R494. She said the power of the water coming down of the Arra Hill on Wednesday of last week had buckled the electric gates on one house in the locality.

A decade ago there might be one flooding incident a year in Ballina but in the past year there were six such incidents, she said.

“We have experienced flooding in people's houses. We need help from outside. We are in a valley in Ballina and the water coming down the hills takes everything in its path.”

Cllr Bugler said she had to phone the emergency services on last Christmas night because a woman in the locality had contacted her fearing that her home was about to be flooded.