€7m work on Poddle protect 800 homes
11 Sep 2019Sean McCarthaigh
MORE than 800 homes on Dublin’s southside are to get improved flood protection with planned upgrade of defences on the River Poddle.
Work on the €7m project, funded by the Office of Public Works, is expected to begin in mid-2020 and will take up to 24 months. Dublin City Council’s south-east area committee was told the scheme would lower the risk to human life.
HURRICANE
During extreme weather, the Poddle has flooded four times in the past 35 years, includingduring Hurricane Charlie in 1986, with 80 households five commercial premises hit. In 2011, one person was killed and more than 50 properties suffered major damage after flooding in Kimmage, Harold’s Cross, Mount Argus, Mount Jerome and Gandon Close when more than 90mm of rain fell in six hours.
The Poddle, which rises in Tallaght, runs underground for much of its course as it flows Tymon Park, Harold’s Cross and Blackpitts before entering the Liffey at Wellington Quay.
The main element of the scheme, being overseen by the Office of Public Works, Dublin City Council and South Dublin Council, is a containment area for floodwater in Tymon Park. Other containment areas are proposed at Whitehall Park and Ravensdale Park, Kimmage.
Other measures include raised earth embankments, sealing off manholes and cleaning culverts. Building a 1.5-metre defence a wall in Poddle Park, Kimmage, will result in the loss of up to 20pc of its trees. A planning application for the scheme is expected to be submitted to An Bord Pleanala next month and will be followed by public consultation.
Labour councillor Mary Free Councillor Mary Freehill hill said the scheme was “a long time in the process” since the through flooding of 2011 and would take some years to complete. “People in the Harold’s Cross area can’t get insurance cover,” she said.
The council has said it will provide “letters of comfort” that householders can show insurance companies when seeking cover for their homes.County ment.
Independent councillor Mannix Flynn said a lot of the flooding was due to no maintenance. “The Liffey is a pure and absolute sewer,” he said.
The Poddle with links to 15 other watercourses was the main sources of Dublin’s drinking water until the 13th Century.
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