Monsoon rain wreaks havoc along Galway coast
RAINFALL of monsoon proportions, that struck parts of west Galway and south Connemara last weekend, caused widespread damage to roads with many locals having ‘lucky escapes’ in the rising floodwaters.
Met Éireann’s Gerry Murphy said that a rainfall figure of 125mms., or almost five inches, was recorded at Shanbolard near Cleggan in the 24 hour period between last Sunday morning and Monday morning.
The freak rainfall – that broke all previous records for the West of Ireland – claimed the life of a retired Anglican minister, Roger Grainger (81), when a flash flood swept his car into a ditch at Doogart on Achill Island on Sunday night.
Eamonn Nee, IFA Hill Farming Representative and a resident of Glencoaghan Valley near Recess, said that in living memory, the local people had never experienced rainfall like what they got last weekend.
“It started on Thursday night and continued on all through Friday and while we did get a break on Saturday for a while, the rain came back again worse than ever on Sunday and through that night,” said Eamonn Nee.
He said that over the weekend, many people had recounted incidences of ‘near things’ where high water levels on roads and close to the sea had lead to really dangerous situations.
“We were quite lucky that nothing more serious happened in our area and we are all saddened to hear about the tragedy in Achill. It really was an awful weekend back here,” said Eamonn Nee.
Fire Brigade members and County Council crews were on duty over the weekend in a bid to keep roads passable although a number of routes were closed for a time, including the Sky Road at Clifden.
According to Met Éireann, parts of west and south Connemara got 90% of their average monthly rainfall through the course of last weekend with Mace Head near Carna having 138mms of rainfall (5.4 inches) in the four day period from Thursday to Monday.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.