Adriana Hegarty, President of Middleton Chamber of Commerce, said flood damage to east Cork was estimated at around €200 million, reports RTE.
He told RTÉ’s Six One: “We counted 150 (damaged) businesses and that’s not counting other streets or housing developments that are very local. There is no flood insurance here, so a lot of people have to take the brunt of it themselves,” reports RTE.
“I think there’s €200 million worth of damage done, and that’s counting bridges, roads, towns, there’s probably a lot more but that was the cost we were given today,” he added, reports RTE.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the Government will provide a financial package to support people whose homes and businesses were damaged by flooding during the storm.
He said: “So we’re putting in place a financial package to help homes that are affected, businesses that weren’t insured – clearly a lot of damage to roads and bridges as well and they’re going to need to be repaired,” reports RTE.
He added: “There’s an initial allocation of 10 million to help families and businesses that are affected, and clubs and voluntary organisations too, but it’s not capped at 10 million, that’s just the initial allocation that’s made,” reports RTE.
The Prime Minister told the community of Middleton, Co Cork, that emergency and public services were available to help with the clean-up after the area was hit hardest by flooding during the storm.
Cork County Council’s Severe Weather Assessment Team met earlier to assess the impact of the flooding.
The statement said the full extent of the damage could not be assessed at this stage, but asked residents to avoid Main Street Middleton to allow for cleanup efforts.
It also said that “numerous parts of the county’s road network have been severely affected with many roads remaining closed to traffic,” reports RTE.
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