As the waters subsided in many areas, they were rising as the river rose substantially heading towards Claregalway. The Lisheenavalla, Caherlea areas were once again in trouble with a number of houses threatened. However, on the Tuesday morning of last week a call was made for sandbags in a bid to alleviate the situation. The OPW responded and an all-out effort was made to save the homes in the area. Three homes in the area that were at most risk were targeted first and sandbags were put around the homes and water pumps were sought to pump the water away from the homes.
As the initial houses in danger were saved a call was made for people to fill sandbags through the community alert areas in Cregmore, Turloughmore and Carnmore and the response was immediate and huge.
As the evening dusk was setting and more sand arrived, over sixty people had gathered and it didn’t take long before all the houses in the area were surrounded by sandbags and saved from the rising waters. By Thursday the waters had subsided but with the possibility of further rain and wind the sandbags will likely remain in place until the new year.
Local Councillor Frank Kearney, who remained at the site all day, paid tribute to the OPW and extended a huge thank you to the community of local farmers who supplied tractors to transport the sandbags to the houses.
He also paid tribute to the army who also came with several hundred sandbags and extended his thanks to his fellow council colleagues Cllr Peter Feeney who helped in saving the homes of the families in Caherlea and Lisheenavalla and in particular Cllr Malachy Noone who became a wonderful source of providing solutions after the experience gained from the 2009 flooding.
“This certainly showed the importance of community support and the importance of the community alert text messaging system in getting a community together to support those in need.”
