A KILEELY man had to sign himself out of hospital on Friday last (October 20) after a panicked phone call from his partner who was watching the river rise and flood water spilling across the road and into their property.
Anthony McMahon was being treated for a serious infection in Nenagh Hospital when his partner, Elizabeth Callaby, rang to say the water from the swollen river was pouring into the yard of their Carrigkettle cottage.
“Elizabeth doesn’t panic, but she was frantic when she rang. They wanted to keep me in hospital for the weekend but I had to sign myself out,” Anthony told the Limerick Post.
He rushed home and the couple sandbagged the house and managed to stop the water getting indoors, but everything in their yard was destroyed.
Their neighbours were not so lucky, Anthony explains.
“The water got into houses nearby and I saw one man trying to sweep it out the door. He had just got a new drive laid but that didn’t stop the flood.”
Anthony explained that they had brought the old council cottage with knowledge of previous flooding and, while there was a water course nearby, “it’s usually just a small flow. We knew the house had flooded many years before we bought it, but it hadn’t happened any time recently.”
“We called the Council earlier this year and they sent out an engineer. We showed him the risks and told him why we were worried. He said he could see the problem and they would do this and that, but nothing ever happened.”
Before Anthony made his way home, Elizabeth braved the flood to try to get help and approached Council workers who were working on trying to drain the water off the road.
“She asked them if they could come down and help in our areas where homes were already being flooded, but they sad they hadn’t been detailed to do that work and she would have to contact head office.
“We stayed awake all night watching on camera as the waters rose on the yard. It was a terrible feeling. We have chickens and everything in the yard. Our shed was destroyed, feed for the chickens, everything.
“We warned this would happen, but nothing got done.”
