Dreams washed away as rain destroys homes
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THE dreams of homeowners who handed over up to €400,000 for a home in a busy commuter town have been shattered.
Residents of Sallins, Co Kildare, wept as they assessed the flood damage to their homes yesterday in the wake of heavy rain on Sunday.
A total of 300 residents will not be able to return to their homes in the Waterways development until further notice. They are still staying with friends and relatives until the floods recede.
Waterways -- a 104-unit housing estate built three years ago -- was a scene of devastation yesterday. The deluge of rain has left homes that cost up to €400,000 at the height of the property boom under water.
Some residents were awoken by the sound of water at 10am on Sunday morning. They were trapped inside and the water had made its way indoors.
Yesterday, Kildare Civil Defence, assisted by the Laois Civil Defence, aided the remainder of the estate's occupants out of their homes by boat.
Residents Owen Farrell and Gary Behan came back to assist in the rescue efforts yesterday.
They had bought three-bedroom houses with their partners in the past 18 months and paid €390,000 to live in Sallins, close to the train station which brings commuters to the capital.
Mr Behan and his partner Karen Dunne, who is seven months' pregnant with their first child, woke up at 7.30am on Sunday to discover that water was approaching their front door. When they awoke again at 10am, their home was flooded.
Mr Farrell, who has been living in Sallins for the past 20 years, has a seven-month-old baby called Eva with his partner Orla Buckley.
"I remember the water coming very close to the house before but it was never this bad," he told the Irish Independent. "This happened 10 days ago and I rang the county council about the outside drains but they said we needed to call the management company.
Wrecked
"The house is all right upstairs, but downstairs is flooded and the doors are hanging off the hinges. We had just come back from the North with our Christmas shopping, which is now wrecked," he continued.
Many residents were accommodated by friends and family. Some foreign nationals were staying at the GAA hall in nearby Naas, but some took the decision to stay in their homes.
A Polish woman, who is eight months' pregnant, was one of those rescued from her home after she and her husband decided to stay on.
Magdalena Greta, who is expecting her second child next month, husband Rafal Barwoyski and their six-year-old daughter Hanna were taken by boat after staying 24 hours in their home with no electricity or gas.
Water at the estate was due to be pumped out by county council workers and the Civil Defence last night.
A Kildare County Council spokesman said it has been assisting people at the estate but that it was privately owned and the situation should be dealt with by the management company.
Last night the property management company, Wyse, said: "Our office has been previously in communication with Kildare County Council on a number of occasions by telephone and email to advise of the drainage problems and the potential risk of flooding in this area.
"The project management team will continue to liaise with the various service teams until all flooding has subsided and the clean-up operation has been completed."
Much of the flooding in Co Kildare is due to water levels on the River Liffey, which has peaked and floods are abating.
The ESB operates three dams on the River Liffey -- at the Poulaphouca Reservoir, Golden Falls and in Leixlip. Water levels remain high at Poulaphouca and the ESB said it had to discharge water gradually from the reservoir throughout the day yesterday. It said the discharge was making no significant impact on downstream flooding.
In Clane, where 34 residents of the Hazel Hall nursing home had to be evacuated as a precautionary measure on Sunday, the Butterstream, a tributary of the River Liffey, is now flowing at normal levels once again.
In Athy, the Corran Ard housing estate has been flooded since last week.
"We have been ferrying people in and out since then to get their possessions but it is levelling off there now," said Trish McNeela, the civil defence officer for Co Kildare.
- Niamh O'Donoghue
Irish Independent
