Galway Bay fm newsroom – The cost of clean-up across the county in the wake of recent flooding is now set to reach up to 15 million euro.
The figure was revealed during a presentation given to a special sitting of Galway County Council to discuss the flooding experienced in recent weeks.
14.7 million euro – that’s what Galway County Council is now estimating the clean-up across the county will cost after the severe flooding of recent weeks.
Previously, the local authority had estimated that the total cost would be some 12 million euro – and with South Galway still experiencing serious flooding, the figure is likely to continue to rise.
The biggest cost of the clean-up is the repair of roads, which is set to cost the local authority over 8 million euro.
The repair of bridges, culverts and drainage channel repairs will cost a further 4 million – while the emergency response to the floods will cost almost 2 and a half million euro.
50,000 sandbags have been used in fighting rising water levels, the majority of those in South Galway – with one home requiring 2000 sandbags alone to keep the water out.
Last evenings meeting heard that 63 homes were saved by protection measures, while 62 homes were flooded, with 14 of those rendered uninhabitable
Director of Services Liam Gavin told Councillors that trying to solve flooding in South Galway is an extremely complex issue due to the topography of the land and the complicated nature of how floodwater reaches the sea.
However, he also told councillors that while the situation has improved, South Galway is still in crisis mode.