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Met Éireann has said that, while the rainfall
which preceded November’s devastating floods in Cork could
be expected to occur every 25 years, it could not be described
as "extraordinary".
However, the amount of rain which fell in the
Shannon River’s catchment area, it added, was exceptional
and should only happen once every 500 years.
The country’s weather monitoring experts appeared
before the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment and detailed
their draft report on last year’s flooding throughout the
country.
Liam Keegan, head of Met
Éireann climatology division, brought statistics which,
he said, showed that an "extraordinary" amount of rain had
fallen in November, on top of three years of heavy rain. He
said 79% of its stations reported their highest ever rainfall
levels in November.
The graphs produced by Mr Keegan showed much
of Connacht, Clare and parts of Ulster experienced 25-day
rain patterns that should only occur once every 500 years.
However, in Cork, the rainfall was not as large and only very
isolated - higher altitude areas in West Cork and Kerry were
under such pressures. The rest of Cork experienced patterns
that should probably happen every 25 years.
"In terms of Cork’s rainfall, there was heavy
rain - but you are not using the words extraordinary to describe
it. Of itself, it does not stand out."
He said he could not account for all the factors
which caused the flooding below the Lee Fields.
In response to questioning, Met Éireann said
it had provided a severe weather warning to both Cork local
authorities and the ESB. Forecaster Gerald Fleming said these
warnings were delivered on November 18 and gave advance notice
of high levels of rain, but it was up to these agencies to
predict the local effects.
Engineer Paudie Barry, of Baseline Surveys,
told the committee that a report his company produced suggested
it was not the volume of rain which fell that caused the flooding,
but the amount of water released by the ESB from the Inniscarra
Dam.
He said a similar downpour in 1986 had been
handled differently and 331 cubic millimetres were released
every second from the dam - but, on November 19, this rose
to 535 cubic millimetres.
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