Dublin Floods of Former Days
13 Sep 1931The recent disastrous floods recall the many severe inundations that affected Dublin and its suburbs in years gone by. For centuries past residents in the city and Liberties have suffered loss of life and property from the overflowing of rivers and rivulets. In this respect it must be said that, while the Tolka and Camac can be been violent at times, yet they have been well-behaved streams in comparison with ‘the tumultuous Dodder or the tortuous Poddle, or the majestic Anna Liffey till she was kept in her place.
Judging from the scanty records that have come down to us, the flood of March, 1670, must have caused great damage. A storm from the South-East, accompanied by very heavy rain, caused the Liffey to overflow over Mr. Hawkins’s new wall up to the College,” and the river “flowed very high into the city, and did much damage.” Seventeen years later another Liffey flood took place, due to excessive rains and a violent storm at new moon. Part of Essex Bridge, which had been built just eleven years before, was carried away and boats plied in the low-lying parts of the city, where the water rose as high, as the first floor of the houses.
A Midsummer Storm. In June, 1754, floods caused great damage. The heavy rain which, fell on June 14 and the preceding night “exceeded anything of the like nature that can be remembered.” Potato fields were ruined cattle were carried away and lost in the torrents the lower town of Bray was flooded, and the bridges of Enniskerry, Tinnahinch and Rathfarnham were broken down by the flooded waters.
Thirty years later floods again caused much damage and distress in Dublin and the vicinity of the metropolis. The heavy and incessant rains which fell in January, 1784, caused the Poddle to overflow, the water rising to six feet at the Cathedral. Ship Street, the.Lower Castle Yard, and Dame Street, as far as Sycamore Alley, were covered, and the torrent flowed through Crampton Court and Crane Lane (filling the cellars and kitchens on the way) until it joined the swollen waters of the Liffey. At the same time” vast has been the destruction of the River Dodder, having almost swept away everything before it.”
When. Five Liffey Bridges Fell.
Early in December, 1802, a tremendous! flood swept Dublin, and the suburbs. Rain fell for over thirty-six hours, and the Liffey rose to a height unprecedented in the memory of the oldest inhabitants.” Ormond Bridge was swept away but happily no lives were lost. The Four Courts were inundated, the water rising four feet in the room where the barristers’ robes were kept. The Poddle overflowed to a greater height than was ever remembered, causing great distress to many poor persons, who were banished from their habitations, particularly to those whose misfortune it is to reside in cellars.” These floods caused the destruction of the bridges at Ringsend , Clohskeagh, Lucan and Celbridge.
River’s 7ft. Rise in 25 Minutes.
Dr. Boate, author of “Ireland’s Natural History,” writing over 250 years ago. about the great tendency of the Dodder to rise suddenly, observes that although the bridge at Rathfarnham was so high that a man” on horseback could ride under it, and the water was so shallow that a child could wade through it, yet the river rose so rapidly that it often flowed over the bridge. This statement received striking confirmation in November, 1834, when heavy rain ” produced an immense flood in “the Dodder”. On Nov. 7 the water rose .seven feet in twenty-five minutes, so great and so sudden was the flood; and then as now “the poor people were severe sufferers.”