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Cork floods Jan 2014

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    #62
    rebelden
    Registered Users Posts: 139 ✭✭rebelden


    lolosaur wrote: »
    every second week that road is flooded. an absolute joke. how can people be expected to go dogging, when they cant even get down through 2 foot of water. a disgrace i tells ya.

    :D


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    #63
    corkgsxr
    Registered Users Posts: 3,404 ✭✭✭corkgsxr


    lolosaur wrote: »
    3 inches, i dont think so.

    try 3 feet.

    they have adequate flood defences there now though. a metal gate for the basement. that will be great except it will take half an hour for someone to actually come down and close the thing. that is if anyone has actually given instruction to do so.

    The mardyke have a simular system incase THE SWIMMING POOL GETS FLOODED........

    In fairness theres alot more that just a swimming pool


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    #64
    who_me
    Registered Users Posts: 3,669 ✭✭✭who_me


    rebelden wrote: »
    :D

    It's that damned poodle again, I'm telling ya...


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    #65
    lolosaur
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 433 ✭✭lolosaur


    corkgsxr wrote: »
    In fairness theres alot more that just a swimming pool


    Well it was the first time i had ever seen a swimming pool closed due to flooding anyway, whatever about the rest of the equipment.


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    #66
    Ludo
    Registered Users Posts: 5,015 ✭✭✭Ludo


    Would you swim in a swimming pool flooded by the Lee?


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    #67
    hoodwinked
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,175 ✭✭✭hoodwinked


    lolosaur wrote: »
    Well it was the first time i had ever seen a swimming pool closed due to flooding anyway, whatever about the rest of the equipment.

    you wouldn't have swam in the murky muddy water, not to mention the horrible stuff in the water leaking into the pool, and the steam room, you would also have had a damp smell coming off the carpeted area's,

    the ground floor also has electronic equipment, a gym, wooden floors that popped up from the flood waters, and a basketball arena, judo mats and other stored equipment were also destroyed,

    so yes for health and safety they had to close the whole building down, including the dirty swimming pool.


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    #68
    kub
    Registered Users Posts: 6,546 ✭✭✭kub


    lolosaur wrote: »
    Well it was the first time i had ever seen a swimming pool closed due to flooding anyway, whatever about the rest of the equipment.

    I recall the old 'City baths', ie the external Cork Corporation swimming pool, which was the original site of the famous hotel opposite the County Hall been flooded back in the early eighties.
    So it does indeed happen, just bear in mind all the rubbish etc in that flood water that is not filtered.
    To think that someone thought putting a hotel there with a basement car park was a good idea.


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    #69
    lolosaur
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 433 ✭✭lolosaur


    Ludo wrote: »
    Would you swim in a swimming pool flooded by the Lee?


    I had no need, i was swimming up mardyke walk and back down western road.

    I met 3 lads the night that all flooded who had lost a friend.
    They were good friends with the guy who commited suicide a few days earlier.

    it was a pretty intense evening.


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    #70
    SpaceTime
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,088 ✭✭✭SpaceTime


    Here's how the UCC flood barriers work :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-2gIGry4hs


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    #71
    lolosaur
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 433 ✭✭lolosaur


    you could stick your mickey through the gap at the side of that!!!!!


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    #72
    murphym7
    Registered Users Posts: 2,035 ✭✭✭murphym7


    lolosaur wrote: »
    you could stick your mickey through the gap at the side of that!!!!!

    Speak for yourself dude!:)


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    #73
    lolosaur
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 433 ✭✭lolosaur


    cheeky scamp :)

    of course that amounts to nothing if they leave the other gates open. as fancy as it is.

    is there nothing to be said for a bunch of sandbags?


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    #74
    SpaceTime
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,088 ✭✭✭SpaceTime


    To be fair, UCC has put in very comprehensive defences since the huge floods.

    They did them pretty nicely though. The whole Glucksman Gallery for example had flood walls put in.


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    #75
    who_me
    Registered Users Posts: 3,669 ✭✭✭who_me


    SpaceTime wrote: »
    Here's how the UCC flood barriers work :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-2gIGry4hs

    Wow, I never knew they were there. Do they actually work? Obviously they'd be pointless if they haven't also sealed the foundations & have some way to prevent water entering via drains etc.


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    #76
    SpaceTime
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,088 ✭✭✭SpaceTime


    Yeah, they spent a fairly large amount of money and put a lot of design into protecting the Mardyke Arena, Glucksman and the Western Gateway Building.

    The only thing I'd add though is that from my understanding of what happened, the previous really bad flooding was a freak event due to the dam being so high that it had to be released while the river was still very high.

    The normal flooding in Cork is tidal / storm flooding which is a lot more manageable and generally doesn't blow walls away and stuff.

    That previous flood was absolutely scary as it literally blasted over many flood defences and actually destroyed the quay walls at the point where the river turns a bend at the Mercy Hospital.

    Hopefully, measures have now been taken to mitigate that happening again such as increasing the available capacity at the dam.

    I think at this stage, we really should be looking at the dam's hydroelectric generation as a secondary issue. It's main purpose should be protecting the city from flooding. The dam only produces 19MW vs 1007MW at ESB Aghada and 445WM at BGE Whitegate & 85 at Marina.
    So, it's a bit of an irrelevance most of the time.

    Hydro:
    Ardnacrusha : 85.5MW
    Cathleens Falls : 45 MW


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    #77
    Ludo
    Registered Users Posts: 5,015 ✭✭✭Ludo


    Very interesting figures there. You seem to have a very good point about what is main purpose should be now.


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    #78
    who_me
    Registered Users Posts: 3,669 ✭✭✭who_me


    SpaceTime wrote: »
    The only thing I'd add though is that from my understanding of what happened, the previous really bad flooding was a freak event due to the dam being so high that it had to be released while the river was still very high.

    Yeah, if I recall correctly the dam had been kept shut because of the search for a missing person in the river in the city. But then as you say, once the water level hit a certain point they had to start releasing it. There's a detailed report on the event in the City Council's meeting minutes (available on their site) a couple of weeks after the event, pretty scary.

    I remember looking out my window that night/morning and the river was scary to look at, like white water rapids.. that you wouldn't expect to see in the middle of the city!


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    #79
    evilivor
    Registered Users Posts: 2,613 ✭✭✭evilivor


    who_me wrote: »
    Yeah, if I recall correctly the dam had been kept shut because of the search for a missing person in the river in the city. But then as you say, once the water level hit a certain point they had to start releasing it. There's a detailed report on the event in the City Council's meeting minutes (available on their site) a couple of weeks after the event, pretty scary.

    I'm sure more details will emerge when the case brought by UCC against the ESB for flood damage caused to its buildings is heard this summer. UCC is seeking €18m in compensation.


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    #80
    Red Nissan
    Registered Users Posts: 3,055 ✭✭✭Red Nissan


    who_me wrote: »
    Yeah, if I recall correctly!

    AND we had been in an official Met Eireann weather warning for Fifty Millimeters of rain in an event that only delivered HALF of that.

    Irresponsible to honour a request from Coast Guard or the Gardaí for a DEAD body when the whole city was under imminent threat.


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    #81
    corkgsxr
    Registered Users Posts: 3,404 ✭✭✭corkgsxr


    Pointless searching in that high/fast water.


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    #82
    who_me
    Registered Users Posts: 3,669 ✭✭✭who_me


    evilivor wrote: »
    I'm sure more details will emerge when the case brought by UCC against the ESB for flood damage caused to its buildings is heard this summer. UCC is seeking €18m in compensation.

    Reading the report (on page 6), it's not clear that they had too much scope to do things differently. Even at peak discharge, the inflow was far greater (800 cubic metres per second in, vs 535 m3/sec out), so had they closed/reduced the flow something had to give.

    Perhaps they could have increased the flow earlier, to avoid the high levels later. But then the discharge would have coincided with high tide which was a worry.

    Maybe we'll find out more in this suit, but it doesn't seem yet like it's a slam-dunk case against the ESB.


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    #83
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users Posts: 17,029 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    who_me wrote: »
    Reading the report (on page 6), it's not clear that they had too much scope to do things differently. Even at peak discharge, the inflow was far greater (800 cubic metres per second in, vs 535 m3/sec out), so had they closed/reduced the flow something had to give.

    Perhaps they could have increased the flow earlier, to avoid the high levels later. But then the discharge would have coincided with high tide which was a worry.

    Maybe we'll find out more in this suit, but it doesn't seem yet like it's a slam-dunk case against the ESB.


    I reckon the problem was not so much the actions of ESB on the day in question but their actions during the weeks prior to the flood. Why was the reservoir so full with heavy rain forecast? Surely they should have been continually releasing water to keep the level a bit low so they could cope with any sudden increase in rainfall.


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    #84
    lolosaur
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 433 ✭✭lolosaur


    SpaceTime wrote: »
    To be fair, UCC has put in very comprehensive defences since the huge floods.

    They did them pretty nicely though. The whole Glucksman Gallery for example had flood walls put in.

    you mean the one built 60 feet in the air?


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    #85
    who_me
    Registered Users Posts: 3,669 ✭✭✭who_me


    the beer revolu wrote: »
    I reckon the problem was not so much the actions of ESB on the day in question but their actions during the weeks prior to the flood. Why was the reservoir so full with heavy rain forecast? Surely they should have been continually releasing water to keep the level a bit low so they could cope with any sudden increase in rainfall.

    Maybe so.

    As said previously, I heard that leading up to the flooding they had been keeping the flow/city water level low to aid in a river search for someone who had gone missing; not sure if that's accurate or not. If so, they wouldn't have had as much capacity left to 'buffer' the flow into the city when the rains came.


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    #86
    lolosaur
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 433 ✭✭lolosaur


    evilivor wrote: »
    I'm sure more details will emerge when the case brought by UCC against the ESB for flood damage caused to its buildings is heard this summer. UCC is seeking €18m in compensation.


    wont get a penny. would be an admission of guilt on the esb's part which would mean they would be liable for almost 1,000 houses being damaged in the city area alone. the kingsley hotel alone could take them for 30-40 million. possibly loss of revenue too, im not sure on that part of it.


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    #87
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users Posts: 17,029 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    lolosaur wrote: »
    If i have read what you just wrote correctly, i hope you and your family burn in hell.
    If i have misconstrued it, then be off about your business.

    There is so much wrong with that post.
    Firstly, if the poster is guilty of some moral discretion, in your eyes, you believe their family should suffer. Great morality, there.

    Secondly, do you think that it is acceptable to cause a city to flood to assist in the search for a dead body.

    Obviously, my sympathies would go out to the loved ones of any missing person, assumed alive or dead but I don't believe the family of any missing person would have wanted the search for their loved ones to be the cause of a major flood in a city. Any right minded person would think it irresponsible to but a whole city and its occupants in danger to assist in the search for a body.


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