This mornings tidal flooding in Cork City was the worst in 10 years as business owners suffer significant amounts of property damage
Flooding in Bantry this morning photo by Bantry Fire Brigade
Cork city has been hit by the worst tidal flooding it has seen in between five and 10 years.
Water was flowing through the streets as high tide began to roll in this morning.
There are fears there may be a lot of damage to buildings around the River Lee – particularly in the Oliver Plunkett Street area.
Cork City Council Director of Operations David Joyce said it will take some time to assess the extent of the damage.
“We estimate it has probably been five to ten years since we have last seen this level of tidal flooding,” he said.
“It is quite an extreme event we have experienced this morning. There is potentially a significant amount of property damage.
“While many properties did put out sandbags and put up their flood protection, until they come in later this morning and later today and actually assess damage, we won’t know exactly what the extent of the damage might be.”
Weather warnings and advisories where issued well in advance with a status yellow rainfall and wind warning in place for Cork during the time periods which warned of possible coastal and tidal flooding.
Motorists were advised not to leave their cars in Cork city centre last night and a number of parked cars have been badly damaged by the rising waters.
Many streets were under up to one metre of water when the tide came in.
Bantry, Kinsale and Youghal were also badly hit by the rising waters.
Here is the analysis chart for 0600 UTC (7am local time), overlaid with satellite imagery, showing the low pressure system to the southwest that generated the strong southeasterly winds which coincided with high tide in Cork Harbour this morning, resulting in flooding.
Some areas also seen over 50mm of rainfall
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