Campsite and farms swamped under water

Chris Donegan • Published 10 Sep 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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The floods are back, and with a vengeance, sparking fears that we could be in for a repeat of last winter when much of Fermanagh ended up under water.

The heavy rain of the past four days has left people living in some of the worst affected areas cut off after rivers and streams burst their banks, swamping roads and pouring over the surrounding farmland. They fear they could be facing last year’s nightmare when widespread flooding almost brought the county to a standstill as several major routes became impassable and businesses were forced to close.

There is little faith that the Flooding Taskforce set up in the wake of last winter’s deluge will stop the water rising.

Jack McVitty is one of a number of people living on the Rossmacaffrey Road beside the Colebrooke River near Lisnaskea.

“I’m flooded in again,” he complained on Tuesday afternoon.

Swollen by torrential rain, the water in the Colebrooke began rising early on Monday afternoon and had soon burst its banks.

“Today it must be anything up to two feet deep on the road,” explained Mr. McVitty.

“I have been chatting to the Rivers Agency people about it and they are telling me the old, old story. They always tell us they are doing what they can and they have no control over what falls from the sky,” he said.

Farmer Mr. Barry Read, suffered £30,000 worth of damage to his grain store and agricultural machinery when the river burst its banks and the award-winning Mullinascarthy Caravan Park was also flooded.

Mrs. Patricia Bryson has a caravan there and was involved in the rescue operation.

“I would like to commend our site manager, Pearl Duncan, our friendly neighbouring farmer and all the caravan owners who appeared from all parts of the province and who all pulled together and helped each other,” she said.

“This is the third year in a row that this flooding has occurred, contrary to a report stating that it is a once in 10 year event,” she complained.

In anticipation of the autumn rains the Rivers Agency has been taking its usual flood prevention measures, working with the ESB (Electricity Supply Board) in the Republic of Ireland to reduce the level of Lower Lough Erne to leave space for the water pouring in from surrounding streams and rivers. The ESB controls the water level of the lake using sluices at its hydro-electric power stations at Cliff, on the River Erne just downstream from Belleek, and Cathleen’s Falls, at Ballyshannon.

Before the rain began on Saturday they had reduced the Lower Lough to 45.8 metres above sea level - just eight centimetres above the minimum laid down in the Erne Drainage and Development Act, a cross-Border deal struck between politicians in Belfast and Dublin in the 1950s. When it is drained to its lowest level the lake has the capacity to rise by 1.52 metres before hitting its maximum permissible level and flooding but this can occur quite quickly during prolonged spells of heavy rain.

When the downpour started at the weekend the ESB began running the two hydro-electric stations at full power.

A Rivers Agency spokesman said: “ESB has been on full generation over the past few days and continues to do so. This uses approximately 180 cubic metres of water per second.”

By Tuesday lunchtime the ESB had also opened sluices to spill excess water over the sides of the dams as a “precautionary measure” in case the very heavy rainfall persisted.

“Full generation and normal spilling equates to approximately seven millimetres of rainfall per day,” said the Rivers Agency spokesman. “If the rainfall exceeds seven millimetres per day during the winter months then the additional water has to be stored in the loughs.”

In other words if there is more than seven millimetres of rain in a day the water levels in the Erne start to rise. Ten times that amount - 70 millimetres - fell between Saturday and Tuesday.

Last autumn it rained for 38 consecutive days. In one day alone there was 45 millimetres, contributing to the 400 millimetres that fell between November 1 and 25. The average for the entire month is 121.5 millimetres.

As a result the water level in the lake rose by up to 60 millimetres a day and finally overflowed, causing widespread flooding.

Rivers Agency said it was a one in 1,000 year event.

It described this week’s flood on the Colebrooke as a one in ten year event.

However, that is once too often for Mr. McVitty, who lives close to where the river flows into Upper Lough Erne.

“This is going on a lifetime,” he complained.

And he hasn’t much faith in the politicians who turned up to see last year’s floods for themselves.

“All them people were down here and what did they do? A waste of time. We have listened to the politicians for years and what are they doing? They’re not going go raise this road here,” said the angry farmer, pointing to the abandoned vehicles by the side of the flood.

“It’s making life very difficult to say the least,” he added.

Last year the floods left him marooned on his farm for 24 days and he had to dump the milk from his cows for over three weeks. This week some of his herd was again cut off by the rising water.

“The water would be up 18 inches to two feet and it’s still rising. The countryside is awash,” said Mr. McVitty.

Mr. McVitty’s lack of faith in the Flooding Taskforce and its report was shared by members of Fermanagh District Council when they met in Enniskillen Townhall on Monday night.

Ulster Unionist Harold Andrews said: “A number of farmers are not happy with the report. There’s a farmer I know well that’s not happy. This man lost three weeks’ worth of milk and all they are doing is raising a bank.”

Sinn Fein’s Thomas O’Reilly complained about the delay in publication of the report and the funding allocated to flood alleviation.

“It is deplorable and a disgrace that we have waited so long for the amount of money we have been given,” he complained.

Frank Britton of the SDLP added: “There has been no mention of compensation for traders or farmers.”

Bert Johnston of the DUP also complained about the lack of funding.

“This should be considered just a down payment - a first instalment. Fermanagh needs to be treated equally,” he said.

Sinn Fein’s Brian McCaffrey welcomed the fact that the Taskforce had identified the Rosslea to Monaghan road as a priority route but wondered why it had taken until lunchtime on Tuesday for signs to be erected warning that it was flooded.

“By then a number of cars had gone into the water and several were write-offs,” he stated.

Independent member Bernice Swift said: “This report is deplorable and I am not satisfied. I don’t agree that we have been treated equally. As a Council we need to be more pro-active. This is an insult to the people of Fermanagh. We have waited so long for this load of rubbish.”

Local SDLP MLA Tommy Gallagher said the report failed to fully address the very real problems that will continually impinge on the lives and safety of people in Fermanagh following a sustained period of rain.

“Already, after a few days of continual heavy rain this week, we have has problems in Fermanagh due to flooding, with the closure of Rossmacaffrey Road at Lisnaskea, and access roads to the Share Centre, which is a important tourist centre for the area and a key crossing for Upper Lough Erne,” he said.

“It’s clear that the Taskforce report didn’t go far enough and one million pounds earmarked for the upgrade of flood-hit roads will not go far enough,” he argued.

“Main arterial routes through the county, in and around Enniskillen, as well as access routes to the main bridges over Lough Erne, need to be raised in order to prevent the gridlock experienced last year. That work should have commenced already,” said Mr. Gallagher.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 09 Sep 10

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