by Andrew Carey
DELIGHTED to help, a 57-year-old father of seven was the unlikely saviour of Island View residents over last weekend’s devastating floods when he rescued many of those trapped in their homes and unable to scramble to safety.
Ger Hogan, together with his trusty steed, Peg, has been hailed a local hero after the daring duo rescued up to 200 people from their watery homes.
A St Mary’s Park resident all his life, Ger’s rescue mission was just one of the many examples of a community united in its determination to tackle the flooding crisis through the unique sense of local identity of the people of the Island area.
Ger’s family home was one of the few to escape the tidal flood waters but that didn’t stop him putting on his waders and tackling up Peg to help out his neighbours.
The pair traipsed through St Mary’s Park for almost 12 hours carrying people out of the floods and when that was done, Ger and Peg delivered sandbags to those who needed them most.
“I was delighted to help. Sure, they’re all my neighbours and I wanted to do something,” was his modest response to the media scrum that followed his heroics.
