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'A tsunami from the skies': Taoiseach to travel to Donegal as emergency meeting takes place over floods

Met Éireann has issued a status yellow rainfall warning for five counties.

tractor A man looks at an overturned tractor on a collapsed road in Iskaheen, Donegal Niall Carson / PA Wire/PA Images Niall Carson / PA Wire/PA Images / PA Wire/PA Images

Updated 3.45pm 

THE GOVERNMENT HAS committed to fully supporting Donegal County Council deal with the clean-up after catastrophic flooding.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is set to head to the areas affected, RTÉ reports.

The commitment was made at an interdepartmental meeting on the actions and progress taken in dealing with the flooding. A statement said that there are a number of sources of assistance available to those affected by the floods:

  • An emergency humanitarian support scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting organisations will be put in place to deal with the after-effects. The Red Cross will administer the scheme with funding provided by central Government
  • Financial support under the Department of Employment and Social Protection’s existing Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is also available
  • This support will be targeted at the immediate needs of households who have been directly impacted by the flooding (such as clothing and food) with further support available in the medium and long term (financial support for household items and structural repair) as the clean-up operations begin.

People and families in need of assistance are being advised to visit the local Intreo Centre.

The Department has redeployed staff to the offices serving the worst affected areas, such as the Inishowen Peninsula. Intreo is asking those in need of supports to visit its office – but those unable to travel to the offices can contact Buncrana Intreo office on (074) 9364600 or Ballybofey Intreo on (074) 9130490.

“These schemes will be demand-led and all necessary funding will be made available, as required,” said the statement.

In addition, if anyone requires assistance and has not yet contacted the relevant agency or Department, we would encourage them to do so. People can contact Donegal County Council on 074 9153900 or 074 9172288 for assistance.

‘Tsunami’

Earlier today, Junior Minister Joe McHugh compared the recent flooding in Co Donegal to a tsunami.

McHugh is among the ministers visiting the county today as the clean-up operation continues.

The Donegal TD said: “Tsunamis are associated with catastrophic sea surges but what happened in Donegal earlier this week was similar; it was a tsunami from the skies which dropped millions of tonnes of water directly into the heart of communities.

“Farmers in Inishowen and east Donegal have lost crops and animals and have seen the topographical nature of their lands changed forever through the sheer surge of the flood waters.

I visited farmers in north Inishowen who cannot find their livestock. I also saw acre upon acre of potato and grain crops around St Johnston washed away and destroyed. I have spoken to Agriculture Minister Michael Creed about the losses being faced and the assistance required.

Soldiers have arrived in Co Donegal to help with the clean-up operation.

Irish Farmers’ Association President Joe Healy has been visiting the Inishowen area to survey the damage caused.

“The farming community is reeling from the shock of what happened here on Tuesday. In some cases stock has been lost, and in other cases land and crops are submerged under water. Farm families have been cut off because of damage to roads and bridges,” Healy said.

He added that the farmers he met were still trying to come to terms with the destruction caused, stating: “They are facing ruin because of the losses they have suffered.”

Rainfall warnings 

Earlier, Met Éireann issued a status yellow rainfall warning for five counties. Donegal will be worst affected, with the potential for 25 to 40mm of rain to accumulate in 24 hours, especially on higher ground.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, Defence Minister Paul Kehoe said 30 troops will help Donegal County Council with the clean-up operation.

“I have no doubt that there will be loads of work for the members of the Defence Forces … I think we need to bring life back to normality for the people of Donegal.”

Kehoe said more soldiers will be deployed to help if necessary.

The minister said about 200 homes have been affected and some of the damage is “absolutely devastating”.

This is absolutely unprecedented, biblical you could almost say.

The first of the flooding hit on Tuesday night and, when questioned about why it had taken two days for soldiers to be deployed to the area, Kehoe said the situation had to be assessed before action was taken.

“People just don’t fall out of the sky so there is a lot of coordination and work has to be carried out.”

Kehoe said he spoke to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last night and stressed to him the importance of the Red Cross Small Business Humanitarian Funding – which was put in place for people in the midlands in 2015 and 2016 following flooding – “to make sure that we give every assistance to small businesses and homeowners”.

He added that the Department of Social Protection has made emergency income support payments to some of those affected. An inter-agency meeting to discuss the response to the flooding will be held in Dublin today.

Rainfall warnings

The rainfall warning for Donegal will be valid until 6pm, while a status yellow rainfall warning for Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo will remain in place until 3pm. Totals of 25mm of rain are expected in these counties, but there is the potential for 35mm on higher ground.

Overall, it’ll be rather cloudy today. There’ll be heavy showers or longer spells of rain at times in Ulster, Connacht and parts of north Leinster. It will be brighter further south, with scattered showers and some sunny spells developing at times.

Top temperatures will range from 16 to 19 degrees Celsius, with moderate south to southwest winds becoming westerly in places later.

Met Éireann says it will become dry in many places tonight. There will be further showers in northern counties, but these will become well scattered.

There will be some clear periods especially in midland and southern areas, with some mist and fog developing. Temperatures will dip to eight to 12 degrees overnight. It’ll be mildest in the north.

Weekend

It’s expected to be bright and dry in many places tomorrow, with sunny spells especially in midland and southern areas. It’ll be cloudier in northern counties with scattered showers. Afternoon temperatures will range from 16 to 20 or 21 degrees, with light breezes.

Met Éireann says mixed weather will continue in the coming days – there will be some dry periods, but showers or spells of rain at times also.

There will be dry spells on Saturday night, but showers in some western and northern areas. Lowest temperatures will range from nine to 12 degrees, in light to moderate southwesterly winds. There’ll also be some patches of mist or fog.

Sunday looks as though it will be rather dry and cloudy, with occasional sunny spells and well scattered showers. Top temperatures will range from 17 to 20 degrees, in moderate southwesterly winds. Sunday night will become breezy, with persistent rain pushing into Atlantic coastal areas later in the night.

Read: ‘I’m in a privileged position’: Claire Byrne and Ryan Tubridy on their salaries and gender balance

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    Mute Seán C
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:04 AM

    Won’t someone please think of those kindly, definitely not bigoted orangemen. What are they going to do for their culture fires in July?

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:11 AM

    @Seán C: Those weren’t culture fires. They were heat treating the pallets for pests

    213
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    Mute Seán C
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:15 AM

    @Tweety McTweeter: bravo sir!

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    Mute John Cotter
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:18 AM

    @Tweety McTweeter: always thought to was part of the cash for ash scheme

    49
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    Mute Shelly Levine
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:08 PM

    @Tweety McTweeter: Green is the new orange?

    12
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    Mute Patrick Nolan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:06 AM

    Non compliant pallets…… Learn something new every day!

    71
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    Mute George Weener
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:07 AM

    I have seen metal and plastic pallets…. Thay dont need to use wood… More scaremongering!

    48
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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:11 AM

    @George Weener: the vast majority of pallets are wooden though. Compliant ones will be manufactured, but due to the late notice it would take a few months to get adequate supplies, so not scaremongering, rather a genuine concern

    128
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    Mute Fr. Fintan Stack
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:17 AM

    @George Weener: Plastic pallets on the queyside, in run down warehouses, etc. Yeah, great idea alright.

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    Mute Denis Moynihan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:18 AM

    @George Weener: Have you checked the availability and cost of the alternatives before declaring it as scaremongering?

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    Mute Brianto
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:27 AM

    @Vocal Outrage: late notice? They’ve had 3 years!!!!

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    Mute George Weener
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:34 AM

    @Denis Moynihan: I have read about a new start up company in Ireland that is making pallets from recycled plastic. Hopefully they will get a good kick start from this problem. It will create irish jobs and get rid of some of our landfill plastic packaging.

    26
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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:44 AM

    @Brianto: oh, I agree, by the late notice I meant the fact that the British authorities only flagged this in the UK in the last few weeks, it had been noted in Ireland long before that, but no-one actually acted upon it as the respective governments both kept saying a deal would be struck

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    Mute Niallers
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:24 PM

    @George Weener: More expensive. Adds to the cost of doing business.

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    Mute Barry Whelan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 4:31 PM

    @George Weener: Plastic pallets are rubbish. Doesn’t take much force to break them,they slide on trailer floors and forklifts. Not commonly used at all.

    11
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    Mute EillieEs
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    Mar 3rd 2019, 2:41 AM

    @George Weener: plastic pallets cost about five times more than wooden but can take only half the weight.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:53 PM

    Every 12th July little gits burn the blue pallets up North, so who in businesses pay for those pallets and why does the police up there not take them back as ALL blue pallets ARE stolen property. It proves the police up there support stolen property being destroyed as well as ignore it being stolen as blue pallets are blue because they are rented pallets by companies.

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    Mute Patrick Nolan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 2:09 PM

    @TamuMassif2019:
    The losses to business because of the riots caused by any attempt to take back the pallets would be far greater than the value of the pallets.

    11
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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:28 PM

    @Patrick Nolan: Wait until waste burning laws comes in lol.

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    Mute Ben Jamen
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:04 AM

    That’s going to cause a lot of problems in the retail industry alone.

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    Mute Paul Murphy
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:35 PM

    Pellets / pallets….the DUP must be hysterical

    22
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    Mute Liam Dunne
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 1:08 PM

    @seamus Murphy. Have you any idea how big a problem this could be? Almost everything that moves nowadays moves on pallets. This would add enormous expense to everything here in Ireland and add huge delays.

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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:49 AM

    Anyone hear of the 12th July…

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    Mute Seamus Murphy
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:07 PM

    I’d say if that’s the biggest problem with Brexit we won’t be too bad.

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    Mute Michael Maher
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 3:30 PM

    More bull….

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    Mute Ben Jamen
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:03 AM

    That’s

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    Mute Mill Lane
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 5:23 PM

    Let me guess the Brit’s can’t decide on what to rename the Euro pallets so they will want to kick the cam down the road for another few months.

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    Mute Cathal
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 8:49 PM

    @Mill Lane: Euro pallet isn’t used that much, standard 4×5 foot pallet is the commonest.

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    Mute Tom Doyle
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 6:38 PM

    Ah nearly there now once the Pallets are sorted.

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    Mute Darren Swords
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 7:27 PM

    The UK already has a different pallet, the euro pallet is 800 x 1200mm which is the industry standard & the UK pallet is 1200 x 1000mm.
    Always wondered why they had to have a different pallet.

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    Mute Cathal
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 8:54 PM

    @Darren Swords: There are multiple pallet sizes ,The DD or Dusseldorf pallet which is half the size of a europallet is also quite common. USA and Canada also use the UK standard pallet.

    3
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