Residents at Donegal Town flooding hotspot brace themselves for Storm Amy

It will be a nervous few days for the residents of Donegal Town flooding hotspot, Clareden Drive.

However, locals have said they are very grateful to the members of the Civil Defence who have gone above and beyond in helping them to protect their homes from flooding.

Particularly anxiety-inducing is that high tides over the next two nights will occur in the darkness of the early hours, with one local resident saying she did not expect to get any sleep.

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The high tides for Friday and early Saturday are:

Friday, October 3: 

3.57am (3.05m)

4.07pm (3.23m)

Saturday, October 4:

4.44am (3.34m)

4.52pm (3.53m)

While tides regularly reach or exceed 4m in Donegal Town, the storm surge is likely to add significantly to these values. 

The people of Clareden Drive know all too well how quickly floodwater can rise and enter their homes. They have experienced their houses being flooded on three occasions over the last decade. In one case, they had secured their front doors from the rising waters of the River Eske only to find that rainwater from a saturated field behind their homes led to a surge of water entering via the rear of their homes. 

With the Eske being a tidal river, the Drumlonagher area, and particularly the homes of Clareden Drive are vulnerable to flooding from three different sources - a storm surge and high tide, torrential rainfall swelling the Eske, and rainwater running from higher ground to these low-lying houses. 

While funding has been approved by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for a major flood mitigation scheme on the Eske, work has yet to commence. Some smaller, localised work has taken place, and this has played a part in preventing flood water reaching the properties during last winter's storms. The fire service too have been on hand to pump water away from the area. 

However, until such time as the major project is carried out, people in the area will be in fear every time there is a storm, regardless of the status of the warning. As they know from bitter experience, disaster can occur even with only a status yellow warning.

Storm Amy Warnings

A number of weather warnings are in place for County Donegal over the coming days due to Storm Amy.

A Status Orange warning for wind applies to Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, with near gale force to gale force and very gusty southwest to west winds.

Met Éireann is advising that likely impacts are:

• Fallen trees
• Damage to power lines and possible power outages
• Very difficult travelling conditions
• Possible wave overtopping

The warning is valid from 2pm to 10pm on Friday, October 3, with a Status Yellow warning then taking effect until midnight. 

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There are also a number of marine warnings in place.