Cork City Council statement on flooding in Cork City Sun 16th October

17th October 2022

A major clean-up operation took place from early this morning after an exceptional rainfall event saw 55 mm of rain fall across the city yesterday afternoon and evening – nearly four times the 15mm predicted in yesterday’s yellow rain warning which was active from 1pm.

Cork city centre and suburbs experienced exceptionally heavy and intense localised burst of rain throughout the afternoon until after teatime.  Roads particularly impacted included the South City Link Road, N40 South Ring Road and Blackpool, Douglas and Togher.  Many areas experienced short periods of localised flooding e.g. North Mall and Ballyphehane. 

Up to 15 Cork City Council, Cork City Fire Brigade and An Garda Siochána crews were deployed across the city yesterday to manage the severe impact of the pluvial (rainfall) flooding on traffic and roads. Ahead of the event and as part of their scheduled work programme, Cork City Council crews had ensured that the city’s network of trash screen and gullies were all clear. However, given the volume and intensity of rain ( with much of the rain falling over a 30 minute period), localised flooding occurred as the drainage network struggled to cope.

Director of Services, Operations, David Joyce said: “If the same amount of rain had fallen in lighter showers over four hours, there would have been no significant flooding. As soon as the rain reduced to normal volume, flood waters quickly receded,  (in less than 15 minutes in most cases). A number of locations which experienced longer flooding incidents included the South City Link Road, N40 South Ring Road, Monahan/Centre Park Roads and Blackpool”.

Cork City Council and Cork City Fire Brigade had crews out before, during and after the rainfall event preparing for, responding to and cleaning up after the event.  They worked through the event to help reduce the impact of flood waters. Assessments of damage to property continue to be undertaken this morning.