Heritage town under water after fierce storms lash country

Kenmare was left completely isolated for much of the day after all approach routes to the heritage town were flooded.

By late last night only one route into the town was passable and that was only being used for emergencies.

The sudden flooding hit the town at lunchtime after the River Finnihy burst its banks. The main square was soon under four feet of water with cars floating along the street.

A footbridge over the river had to be torn down after tree branches became entangled in the handrail and acted like a dam, pushing an extra three feet of water into the town.

A number of houses, shops, restaurants and the AIB bank were all flooded as the heavy rains combined with a high tide.

Locals blamed the many new housing developments which surround the town -- some of them located on a flood plain -- for exacerbating the flooding.

Businesses were forced to close shortly after 2.30pm and around 300 people were left without electricity after the ESB turned off the power to the town centre due to the floods. While the initial flood waters receded rapidly, emergency services were bracing themselves for the possibility of further flooding with the high tide.

Gardai warned motorists to avoid Kenmare after roads on the southern and western sides of the town were impassable.

Sean Daly, an auctioneer in Kenmare, said the water from the Finnihy had no place to go because of a series of new housing developments. He said that nine years ago when there had been floods "there was more run-off for the water".

Killarney was also hard hit by the torrential rains and roads into the town were flooded. Kerry County Council closed the main N22 Cork to Killarney road near Glenflesk last night after flood waters, which had been building up all day, left the Garries Bridge area impassable. In the south of the county the Kells area and Inny Bridge were flooded.

Elsewhere, the ESB was working last night to restore power to around 450 customers in the Erris area of north Mayo after gale-force winds brought down power lines.

Meanwhile, in south Co Galway, persistent rain and high winds caused problems for farmers and motorists.

The N18, linking Loughrea with Gort, was flooded at Castletown Bridge and also at Kilchreest. Ballylee and Ardrahan also suffered flooding.

The poor weather has left hundreds of acres under water in low-lying areas in the south of the county, while farmland in parts of east Galway were under several inches of water.

Many farmers opted to attend marts or catch up on their book-keeping rather than brave the downpour which lashed most parts of the country yesterday.

Today is expected to be bright and breezy with a mixture of scattered showers and sunny spells.