The recent Storm Chandra has caused chaos and disaster across the State. It shows the issues we are dealing with, and the need to make sure we have all the mitigations and flood protections in place that we possibly can have. I will deal with some specific issues in Dundalk and particular parts of Dundalk. I first want to commend the local authority staff, particularly those who were out dealing with these issues, and those in the fire service who were out for hours. I know that third parties were brought in with regard to the use of tankers, and they did vital work to ensure people were not flooded.
In saying that, a huge number of people were in a very precarious scenario. We have already been through a yellow storm warning, with the possibility that we could face the same again. A yellow storm warning is in place, and I am told the storm is due sometime between Friday at 9 a.m. and midnight on Saturday. Because everything has been so waterlogged, and because the infrastructure is so backed up, my fear is that we could be in a similar circumstance, particularly in Dundalk.
I have dealt with a huge number of people who have had flooding around their properties, in some cases where the water has come directly into the house. I still say we have been very lucky. One brutal fall of rain during that period would have meant hundreds of houses were flooded in the general Dundalk area. There were problems right through mid-Louth and into north Louth, and even in the area where Ravensdale connects with Jonesborough. Councillor Antóin Watters has spoken to me about particular issues in Jenkinstown. I have dealt with people on the Ardee road who were flooded because the River Blackwater was over-full and spilled into their property, although some work has been done there. There is a need for mitigation to be introduced in that area.
I want to focus on my part of Dundalk, in particular, Bay Estate, Cluan Enda and Greenwood Drive, and I include areas like Greenacres, anywhere on the Red Barns Road and St. Alphonsus Road.
Those roads would have been the subject of a number of closures and severe flooding.
We are being impacted in the context of wastewater infrastructure. We are talking about an area that has infrastructure dating back 20 or 30 years and even longer. There has obviously been an increase in the number of houses - and we need to see more of that - some have been affected by the lack of wastewater capacity. We have the likes of WuXi and other companies operating in the area, and we do not have capacity. The pumping station at Coes Road cannot deal with the amount of water coming through. It will be 2029 before it is upgraded. The treatment plant on the Point Road has a design capacity for a population equivalent of 71,000. This is going to be upgraded to 120,000, but that could take until 2033. When the local authority handed the plant over to Uisce Éireann - it is operated by the EPS Group - it had capacity for 169,000 but under different rules. Water lies there in the Bay Estate, around Holly Park, Oak Vale and even in Cherryvale, but particularly in the part where it comes in from the Alphonsus Road. It is incredibly dangerous, and we need to deal with it.
