Torrential rain, nearly five inches in 24 hours in places, caused tragedy and havoc along the west coast last weekend.
An 81-year-old clergyman, Roger Grainger, died after the car he was driving got caught in floods on Achill Island, Co. Mayo, on Sunday night.
Grainger, an Anglican cleric in the Wakefield diocese in West Yorkshire, recently moved to his retirement house on Achill Island. He was returning from dinner with friends when torrential rain caused a flash flood near his home.
Tragic accidental death of Revd Roger Grainger: http://t.co/0zFl1yTSOX pic.twitter.com/cWSBOP34QI
— Diocese of TKA (@DcoTKA) September 16, 2015
In Connemara, David Gavin from outside Clifden told Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1 how a landslide of earth and debris hit his mother’s home on Sunday night.
He described the rear of his mother’s house as “a bomb site” saying he, his brother and a neighbor worked through the night with a digger to clear the area.
In Co. Cork, four teenagers were freed with just minor injuries after being trapped in a bus that overturned on a wet bend with 52 secondary school students traveling from Ballyhooly to nearby Fermoy. The driver was acclaimed a hero for the students’ miraculous escape from serous injury.
Cork County Council estimated damage of more than €3 million in obliterated roads, destroyed sea walls and collapsed bridges in the west of the county.
Cost of weekend #flooding damage set to run into millions | http://t.co/cdKmczI9HP (SN) pic.twitter.com/qXNPGLCx5V
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) September 15, 2015
Two days of the week-long horse racing festival in Listowel, Co. Kerry, were cancelled because of flooding on the track.
Met Eireann forecaster Pat Clarke described the wet weather as “abnormal” and “not what you’d expect” at this time of year.
He said the combination of two rain episodes, which occurred within 48 hours of each other, resulted in localized flooding in the west of the country.
High winds cancelled filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII on Skellig Michael off Co. Kerry on Monday, with the small boats which service the site refusing to go to sea.
Locals said the seas were too rough for the boats on Monday morning.
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