Cavan not to get a drop from €430M flood pot

No flood prevention measures are to be funded in 'at risk’ locations in the Cavan Urban and Ballyconnell areas from a €430M Government pot as they have not made the priority list.

This was revealed to Cavan County Council during a presentation from the Department on the ongoing Draft Flood Management plan for the area, due to conclude this year, and from the ESB on seasonal flooding on the River Erne and the effect it has on the region. The meeting also heard claims that the hydro-electric dam in Ballyshannon cannot alleviate such floods as last winter’s.
However the meeting was told that the next Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) will focus on how heavy water displacement affects rural areas. While parts of the county are considered in up to four CFRAM plans, project manager for the North-West Neagh-Bann studies, Aidan Harney, spoke specifically on that which details flood risk in the Cavan Urban and Ballyconnell areas.
Now approaching the point of preparing plans and cost-effective measures for managing flood risk, the outcomes of the study are due to go to public consultation at the Hotel Kilmore, Cavan Town, later this month, September 27, from 2-8pm.
With the State set to provide €430M between 2016 and 2021 for capital investment in flood relief schemes, Mr Harney told members that the number one consideration was 'risk to life’, followed by loss of property, and therefore projects in Cavan were not among the 300 priority areas. Nor do any of the proposed measures for 'at risk’ areas align with the studies’ cost-benefit analysis, with Cavan Town falling just short of the requirements.

Cut-off
Over 80 roads were flooded, 20 homes damaged and 113 more cut-off by flooding last November-January, with the Council estimating the cost by damage incurred in excess of €2m. He defended criticism levelled at the seemingly slow pace in developing the region’s CFRAM plan, saying it had already informed emergency services ahead of future cases, and assisted homeowners in getting cover where their homes had otherwise been condemned by insurers in some areas.
“€430m may sound like a lot but it’s not,” Mr Harney told the meeting, informing them that the figure may not even fund all of the 300 priority projects identified by the study in higher risk areas.
But he did address one issue, that the plan failed to take into account the fact that the majority of the areas affected by flooding in the county were outside of more urban areas, recommending Minor Works grants for works in those areas, for which the Council has already applied.
He therefore stated that the next cyclical six-year CFRAM plan would examine rural flooding.

ESB station not responsible
Also speaking at the meeting was Harry Doherty, civil engineer with the ESB who moved to dispel the alleged myth that the hydroelectric station at Ballyshannon had any impact on flooding further down the Erne waterway. He also denied that the ESB “store” water for energy generation.
Blaming instead narrow channels and a low decline in gradient on the course, Mr Doherty said Cathleen’s Falls’ generators can pass around 200m3/sec and the spillway gates pass the remainder. The spillway gates are designed for a one in 10,000-year flood event, of the order of 530m3/sec. In November 2009, the peak discharge was recorded as 385m3/sec and he said, even if the generators were to stop functioning, there is still adequate capacity to pass a large flood solely through the spillway gates.
Showing a presentation, which detailed the level of flooding last year, the rise in flood waters to flow through Cathleen’s Falls’ jumped from 67m3/sec to 267.04m3/sec in the 10 days between November 10-20, describing the 2009 and 2015-16 flood events as two of the biggest on record.
Each year the ESB lowers the levels of the loughs by agreement in October in expectation of winter flooding, he said, and stated that the last time the rivers were dredged was in the early 1900s, at major expense and a gain of just six-inches in the flow of the river. He discounted too the notion of any scheme to drain the rivers today as it would require major infrastructural investment.