 Irish community rising above Britain’s floods
By Peter Foley and Trevor O'Sullivan
This summer Britain has experienced some of the worst floods in over
60 years.
A major humanitarian operation is currently under way in central and western
England to help those affected by the country’s floods.
Over the last few weeks thousands of motorists have been left stranded,
with many forced to abandon their cars to seek shelter from the storms.
Water supplies have been under threat and householders in towns and villages
alike have been subject to queues to gain access to rationed bottled water.
Some of the worst-hit counties have been Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire
and large areas of the
Severn Valley have been badly affected including the towns of Tewkesbury,
Evesham and Gloucester.
The Irish community has been among those who have not escaped Mother Nature’s
warpath and many have been left devastated by the deluge of rainwater.
Gloucester Irish Club was left in chaos after five inches of rainfall
fell in the space of 12 hours causing massive flooding in Gloucestershire
last week.
But the ingenuity of the club’s exiles has ensured that the centre
has stayed open for business throughout the crisis.
Cork native and chair Lynn Hallihan said: "With no water running through
the pipes there was a need for an alternative supply to wash glasses and
keep the place clean."
"But everybody kept their ear to the ground and we managed to get hold of
enough bottled water to keep the doors open."
"It has proved an added expense so we shall have to see if we can claim the
cost back from the utility company when this crisis is over."
"And we obtained some portable toilets to make certain the sanitary
regulations were complied with to stay open.";
Lynn’s husband Gerald, who hails from Mallow in Co. Cork, was
also kept busy during the emergency he was feeding the teams of rescue
workers that converged on Tewkesbury.
Galway exile PJ Wade has lived in Gloucester for more than 30 years and
has not witnessed anything like it before.
He said: "It’s not just the floods, it is all the other problems
associated with them."
"We had no electricity for 24 hours and we don’t know when the water
will be re-connected."
"There seemed to be no back-up plan to cope with the situation there
were not enough water bowsers in the streets and no system in place to
keep them topped up."
"It is the old people and families with young children that are
suffering the most.";
Tom Bigwood from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton said: "The value
of the parish network in Gloucestershire has proved a tremendous help
during the emergency."
"The priests have been able to identify those most in need and people have
really pulled together to weather the crisis by getting bottles of water
to those unable to leave their homes."
With the water supply cut off to more than 100,000 households, most of
Gloucester’s pubs had to close their doors.
And there was also considerable anger when Severn Trent Water much criticised
in all quarters over its ability to cope during the emergency announced
expected profits of £300million for this financial year with the
taps still failing to flow in Gloucestershire.
But it was South Yorkshire that was one of the first areas to be affected
by the floods last month, with areas in and around Doncaster, Hull and
Sheffield left devastated by the freak weather.
Fr. Jim Kennedy is the parish priest at Our lady of Perpetual Health in
Bentley, which is located just north of Doncaster.
The Co. Laois native said his church was left submerged in over two feet
of water and the parish now faces a long clean-up operation, which looks
set to last for months.
He said: "Our hall has been flooded and our church let water in but
basically it’s a clean up job now, which will require at least three
to six months."
"At the moment the carpets have been taken out of our church so we are
waiting for it to be re-carpeted, but the hall had about two foot of water
in there."
"The plasterboard had to be stripped down and re-plastered so it’s
going to be a very big undertaking to get things back to normal. The church
insurance bill at an estimate could reach £30,000.";
The Irish priest feels that while there has been nationwide media coverage
of the floods, it is the aftermath that now needs to be the focus of attention.
He said: "The media only pay attention for a few days while the flood
is in the throes of its devastation but they forget about the after-effects."
"In three to six months time people will be making insurance claims
and many will realise they don’t have insurance on contents."
"So there will be a desperate need down the road for some after-care
and counselling."
As a result of the flooded church Mass was moved temporarily to premises
owned by the Church of England.
Fr Kennedy said: "Our church was slightly flooded at first and for the
first week we did manage to use half the church because only the front
part was flooded."
"But after that the smell was so bad that we went across the road
to our neighbours the Church of England, The Franciscans.
"But because our Masses clashed we used their church hall. And once
it was cleaned up and the carpets were taken out we went back to our own
church."
Fr Kennedy also maintains that while the disaster may have initially brought
people together, that sense of community has now been lost again.
He said: "There was a tremendous sense of community during the floods
but I get the impression that as soon as the floods were over people lost
that sense of togetherness. In fact one shop that was flooded was robbed."
And tales continue to emerge of the plight suffered by the Irish exiles
when the heavens opened last week.
Tipperary-born civil engineer Dan Roche was marooned in his van for 14
hours as he attempted to return to his Gloucester home from a site in
Hereford.
Floods also wreaked havoc on the Irish Junior Athletics team’s travel
plans for the Schools International in Newport.
Having landed in Birmingham, the team buses were unable to take their
planned route to the team hotel.
Such was the extent of their diversion that one of the two buses arrived
in Newport at 8am just three hours before the event was due to start.
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