Flooding tonight 2nd Jan

joeKel73

This sort of flooding will hit the city even worse in the future if the harbour redevelopment goes ahead - funneling any storm surge in the bay right into the docks and Spanish arch.

Whereisgalway

dok_golf wrote: »

If they hadn't left the exit open, how would the cars parked there get out as the owner's that took heed of the weather warning moved them out of harm's way?

Won’t let me upload a pic but something as simple as one way traffic plates.

youngrun

Subtle wrote: »

My two cents... I do think the council needs to take some responsibility, mostly for the unnecessary damage caused to cars on the prom and in the car parks there. It was near certain last night that there would be flooding today in these areas, and yet the county council did not think it prudent to close off the areas or at least put up warning signs that flooding was expected.

I think it's understandable and acceptable that some people were not aware of the weather warning - however, it is not acceptable that the county council might not have been aware of it and did not take appropriate measures. A load of cars were unnecessarily submerged in the car parks this evening and other cars trapped trying to drive the prom. Yeah, I know, foolish and all that, but the car parks and prom road should have been closed off well before high tide. It actually took a good half an hour before the guards, not the council, actually went about closing off the road after the flooding started. At that stage it was too late and the delay almost resulted in a more serious incident after an oldish lady got trapped in her car on the prom.

It's also very frustrating seeing people returning to their cars after work only to find that they're destroyed when the council and the man on the street here knew that flooding was almost a certainty. This damage and potential risk to life was entirely avoidable had the council acted on the weather warnings, rather than waiting and seeing, and then sending crews out only afterwards to clean up...

Sorry, rant over!

Surely has to be personal responsibility as well? ie Read/listen to the news and move your car? Storm was flagged in advance. https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/orange-wind-warning-in-place-as-storm-eleanor-set-to-bring-winds-of-130kmh-820931.html . fast moving.
Council cant control the weather
It could ban cars or block roads, ban parking , or any movement of people along prom/salthill in advance of any weather warning which would probably work, alternately put in some massive booms or build huge stone walls to stop river/sea water overtopping a la back of golf course, this could work along Prom, Spanish arch, docks etc ?

Cheshire Cat

roshje wrote: »

Do Galway Co. Council have email or text alert system for adverse weather conditions? Cork Co. Council do and it works quite well once you are signed up to it.

The City Council does. Got this text yesterday at 10:26am:

"Orange wind warning: Storm Eleanor expected to sweep across Ireland with 'damaging' gusts of 130km/h. Take care. GCC"

Now the Council bashers will say that wasn't enough, but I honestly can't understand how people could have missed an orange weather warning. You simply can't spoonfed everybody!

Laviski

more important question - did anyone swim in the sea? :pac:

McTigs

Did it flood again this morning?

biko

Docks were fine. I don't know about Salthill.

_Puma_

Going by MT's posts on the weather forum it looks like the intensity and track of the storm only really became apparent at 4pm when data from the storm was picked up by the weather buoys. It sounds like Met Eireann could do with more more buoys out in the Atlantic. Definitely a perfect combination for flooding in Galway due to high spring tide, huge storm surge(which was the most damaging factor) and westerly wind direction (more northerly track of the storm than forecast). Hopefully these factors can be taken into account for future warnings in Galway. I'm afraid the current Met Eireann colour warning system just isn't enough to predict flooding events like what we saw last night. The local authorities need to learn some lessons from this.

MadYaker

If you live 20 metres from the worlds second largest ocean it is your own responsibility to pay attention to weather forecasts during the winter. If you're none the wiser and you park your car in those carparks (which have been flooded multiple times in recent memory) and your car gets written off that is your own fault and not the councils for not closing the carpark or the road. Common sense and a bit of personal responsibility is sorely lacking these days.

I'm at a loss as to what exactly the council are supposed to do to stop a huge tide from flooding areas that are only a few feet above sea level? Adequate flood defences to prevent all flooding is way beyond the financial means of Galway.

MadYaker

MadYaker wrote: »

If you live 20 metres from the worlds second largest ocean it is your own responsibility to pay attention to weather forecasts during the winter. If you're none the wiser and you park your car in those carparks (which have been flooded multiple times in recent memory) and your car gets written off that is your own fault and not the councils for not closing the carpark or the road. Common sense and a bit of personal responsibility is sorely lacking these days.

I'm at a loss as to what exactly the council are supposed to do to stop a huge tide from flooding areas that are only a few feet above sea level? Adequate flood defences to prevent all flooding is way beyond the financial means of Galway.

I think some people only want responsibility when it suits them

Storm 10

J o e wrote: »

This sort of flooding will hit the city even worse in the future if the harbour redevelopment goes ahead - funneling any storm surge in the bay right into the docks and Spanish arch.

This flooding was going to happen if the docks was never there, are you going to blame the docks for the flooding in Salthilll, Oranmore Clarinbridge and Kinvara as well, you cant hold back a storm like this with the right conditions for a storm surge IE: low pressure with the storm centre near Galway ,full moon, extremely high tide and storm force winds which all came together to cause the flooding and the storm surge..

joeKel73

Storm 10 wrote: »

This flooding was going to happen if the docks was never there, are you going to blame the docks for the flooding in Salthilll, Oranmore Clarinbridge and Kinvara as well, you cant hold back a storm like this with the right conditions for a storm surge IE: low pressure with the storm centre near Galway ,full moon, extremely high tide and storm force winds which all came together to cause the flooding and the storm surge..

Try re-reading my post. The same combination of weather/tide conditions will likely hit the city even worse in the future if the harbour redevelopment goes ahead.

Yes we got flooded now with everything as-is. But we could be hit much worse from storm surges in the future if the new harbour development channels it into the city.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/warning-of-more-severe-flooding-in-galway-if-harbour-expansion-approved-1.2066274

schemingbohemia

I've heard tell of some people deliberately leaving their cars in Salthill when floods are predicted to get the insurance, would be interesting to see how many cars arrived in the area after 4pm.....

McTigs

schemingbohemia wrote: »

I've heard tell of some people deliberately leaving their cars in Salthill when floods are predicted to get the insurance, would be interesting to see how many cars arrived in the area after 4pm.....

I'm pretty sure there is a "You utter flute" clause written in to most insurance contracts.

Storm Alert x high tide x history of flooding in the area where parked = Jog on you utter flute

Mearings

I hope that the company who insures chequerboard topped minis have not looked at today's Irish Independent news web site. A would-be submariner was filmed driving along the Prom during Eleanor's visit.

Ludikrus

schemingbohemia wrote: »

I've heard tell of some people deliberately leaving their cars in Salthill when floods are predicted to get the insurance, would be interesting to see how many cars arrived in the area after 4pm.....

You'd only get market value, after all the hassle and a claim on your record. That's best case and the insurance company don't deem the event avoidable. A lot easier to just sell the car.

Atlantic Dawn

Mearings wrote: »

I hope that the company that insures chequerboard topped minis have not looked at today's Irish Independent news web site. A would-be submariner was filmed driving along the Prom during Eleanor's visit.

Hopefully they had a dashcam and filmed the whole thing, I think this is the same car here...


https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0103/930749-storm-eleanor/

topper75

McTigs wrote: »

I'm pretty sure there is a "You utter flute" clause written in to most insurance contracts.

Storm Alert x high tide x history of flooding in the area where parked = Jog on you utter flute

Ludikrus wrote: »

You'd only get market value, after all the hassle and a claim on your record. That's best case and the insurance company don't deem the event avoidable. A lot easier to just sell the car.

OK - so we are talking about genuine, honest, straightforward, gormless, tuned-out, pigheaded stupidity here in each and every case in Salthill?

More plentiful than I had thought then.

I was sure there was some elaborate scam that I wasn't getting.

Atlantic Dawn

The Mini driver, it's a petrol version too, I don't know how it didn't get hydrolocked with the amount of water washing around it...



https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/storms/cool-calm-and-collected-the-driver-of-the-mini-that-took-on-storm-eleanor-says-it-was-a-walk-in-the-park-36455718.html

Whereisgalway

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

The Mini driver, it's a petrol version too, I don't know how it didn't get hydrolocked with the amount of water washing around it...



https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/storms/cool-calm-and-collected-the-driver-of-the-mini-that-took-on-storm-eleanor-says-it-was-a-walk-in-the-park-36455718.html

Hope she enjoys her 15mins of fame

Mrs OBumble

Whereisgalway wrote: »

Hope she enjoys her 15mins of fame

I'd imagine she'll be blacklisted by most insurance companies after that little escapade.

MadYaker

It’s supposed to get bad again tonight apparently. High tide at 6am is 5.79 metres

Andy Magic

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I'd imagine she'll be blacklisted by most insurance companies after that little escapade.

She's on the Late Late Friday 2 hour exclusive

gordongekko

More problems tomorrow morning

The current forecast for this evening’s high tide at 6pm is 4.95 metres. Galway City Council, Fire Service, Gardai and Civil Defence will be on site from 5pm to 7pm and will have crews in place to close roads and provide additional sand bags if needed at short notice.
Tomorrow morning's tide at 6.00am is forecast at 5.79 metres. As this is above the critical level of 5.6m they will have staff in attendance from 5am and they will be backed up by the Army, Civil Defence, Gardai and Fire Service. Galway City Council Customer service number is 091 536400.

StonedRaider

schemingbohemia wrote: »

I've heard tell of some people deliberately leaving their cars in Salthill when floods are predicted to get the insurance, would be interesting to see how many cars arrived in the area after 4pm.....

Passed salthill around 1600hrs and there were about a dozen cars parked in each of the 2 carparks. Stupid as stupid does

Utopia Parkway

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

The Mini driver, it's a petrol version too, I don't know how it didn't get hydrolocked with the amount of water washing around it...



https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/storms/cool-calm-and-collected-the-driver-of-the-mini-that-took-on-storm-eleanor-says-it-was-a-walk-in-the-park-36455718.html

Reading the interview she seems a bit away with the fairies anyway.

inisboffin

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Reading the interview she seems a bit away with the fairies anyway.

The fairies are too pagan for her I suspect.

jimbobaloobob

there will be plenty of salt water corrosion in failed ncts for the next while no doubt.
I think people forget too that the waves are carrying plenty of rocks and stones that would do more damage at times than the water itself.

Mrs OBumble

Andy Magic wrote: »

She's on the Late Late Friday 2 hour exclusive

Ahh, ffs. Hopefully someone who knows her can get to her an explain what she's doing to both her insurance chances and employability. You'd expect someone that age to have more sense by now ...

Nettle Soup

Insurance and Safety me arse. Jaysus you people would have us live in such a boring sterile robotic world! She did it and it was fun to watch.
C'est tout. No regrets!