Oireachtas report is critical of severe weather response
by Karen Downey Updated: Wednesday, 21st July, 2010 5:10pm
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government yesterday (Tuesday) criticised the state response to the severe weather conditions experienced late last year and early 2010.
The committee yesterday published a report of its findings and said the overall response to the severe flooding last November and the heavy snowfall in December/January was inadequate and lacked clear direction.
The report has examined the causes and subsequent response to the prolonged flooding which afflicted many parts of the country in late 2009 and the heavy snow which caused significant difficulties earlier this year.
The report found that: "While some aspects of the emergency response were positive, there was a clear absence of effective co-ordination and management of the situation, which mitigated against an efficient and well organised response to the events."
During its deliberations the committee heard from Westmeath County Council, Roscommon County Council, the other local authorities impacted, Met Éireann, ESB, the Minister for Environment and others.
Committee Chairman, Deputy Séan Fleming said:
"The devastation caused by the flooding of late last year and the heavy snowfalls of early this year will live long in the memory of those who were afflicted by them.
"While many individuals and organisations deserve great credit for their actions, we believe that the extent to which people were affected and impacted could have been lessened with better planning and co-ordination.
The report made a number of recommendations and each of the local authorities, including Westmeath and Roscommon, will have to prepare specific flood and severe cold weather major emergency plans, including detailed risk assessments. These plans should provide for the treatment of main, strategic and primary roads as well as regional and county roads that provide important accessibility during a severe cold weather period.
Each local authority will have to prepare an inventory of water and waste water treatment and distribution infrastructure in their jurisdiction and set out measures that need to be taken to protect them from the risk of flooding. The report also recommends that local authorities undertake a review of their effectiveness in the treatment of roads during the severe cold spell of December/January.
The committee also recommended that local authorities should develop and maintain a database of people vulnerable to the effects of floods and severe weather in their jurisdiction, subject to data protection and privacy considerations and the local authorities should include a separate budget figure for drainage and maintenance of rivers in its annual budgets.
The report revealed that in counties Westmeath and Roscommon over the 25 days up until November 26 last year rainfall levels with probabilities of less than one in 250 fell, or such an event had the probability of occurring once every 250 years.
The report concluded that managing severe weather events was not simply about reaction and said they must be planned for.
The committee found there were some positives in the management of the severe weather events.
The report read: "The management of the severe flooding in Ireland during November 2009 and the subsequent severe cold weather of December and January had several very positive dimensions in relation to both prior preparation and response.
It is undoubtedly the case that the lack of known fatalities and the minimal severe injuries attributable to the weather, and the minimal disruption to large numbers of people's lives and welfare, were in huge part reflective of the readiness of citizens and official agencies to respond and their effectiveness in doing so.
Tremendous credit is due to the individuals, communities, businesses, charitable groups and State organisations that worked tirelessly over the periods in question to bring about these outcomes, and the Joint Committee pays enormous tribute to them."
However, the report continued:
"At the same time, that the State was properly informed of the risks, was properly managing them, responded comprehensively and meticulously, and was adequately prepared and resourced to do so, is at best unproven and more likely simply untrue."
