Floods and Damaged Goods
By Primal Sneeze ~ December 9th, 2009. Filed under: Charity, Commentary, Environment, Farming, Kildare, Local, Weather.
Kildare, unlike the west and south of the country, was relatively unscathed by the recent flooding. Some small pockets, most notably Johnstown and Sallins, were hit and hit badly. Even then the damage was confined to particular housing estates.
I was visiting a client, a farmer, in one of those areas the other day. Small talk is the foreplay of business and on this occasion we chatted about how the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) had acted so quickly, organising truck loads of donated fodder be sent to aid farmers in the west whose winter feeding stocks had been ruined. What Tom told me left me quite shocked.
Yes, the majority had acted as asked and gave whatever they could spare. Others, however had been quite unscrupulous and took the chance to rid themselves of their rubbish – 3 or 4 year-old stock with little or no feed value; rotten bales of silage; dust ridden hay and straw. Disposing of such rubbish is a costly exercise and the flooding provided a golden opportunity.
Think of the cost to the IFA of shipping this. Think of the cost of weeding out the dross and disposing of it. Think of the farmer in the west whose livelihood is all but ruined seeing a glimmer of hope but opening a bale only to discover it is unusable.
As I was leaving, Tom suggested I swing by one of the estates affected by the floods. “Take a look in the skips”, he said. “Call me back if you can figure out what you see. I can’t”.
I took a look. I haven’t called him back.
Maybe you the readers can explain this to me:
Among the sodden flooring, clothing, furniture and other items I expected to see were some strange items indeed.
Why would anyone throw out radiators? How could something whose sole purpose is to carry water be flood damaged?
Likewise how can plastic furniture be damaged by water? Or cups, plates etc? Soiled perhaps, but easily cleaned.
How could a wide screen TV that had been, given the visible mountings, on a wall have gotten wet? I seen no indication it had been. No staining whatsoever. Had the fuse in the plug blown and the entire set scrapped?
Most perplexing of all was why the need for a security guard to protect supposedly worthless goods? And why did he ask me to leave when I took out my camera phone?
That’s a very curious poser, Mr Sneeze.
Let’s start with the security guard. Who would have hired him? The management company? Insurers? Why would he have been hired?
There were some very irate and vocal folks from an estate in Sallins (I think) on the Frontline programme on the floods. They were out for blood, justifiably. In Athlone there were cases of looting reported where houses had been evacuated.
Part of the problem in badly flooded areas was sewage floating about in three foot of water, that would turn virtually everything on the ground floor in a house into a biological hazard, particularly to young children.
As a broader observation on the flooding, it was far more widespread than the focus on local hardship would suggest. Only high aerial views of the Shannon catchment from Leitrim to Limerick would give a full picture of the scale of the problem. I know places still flooded that have had no coverage.
Considerable infrastructure has been damaged (roads, waterworks, electricity supply) in areas with no reported flooding crisis. The focus instead has been on ‘blame’, as if the fault can be laid at some authority’s door. Farmers are particularly good at that
The flooding is nobody’s fault, so to speak, but the authories do now have to deal with the reality that certain roads are going to be under three feet of water (unless they are raised), and certain pumping stations are going to be submerged (unless they are moved) and so on, or they can just cross their fingers and pray it doesn’t rain as heavily ever again.
Having had three of our usual routes cut off, and a third ‘passable with care’ I’m now paying close attention to the contours on the map and the whereabouts of the usually free-flowing streams that turned into lakes covering huge acreages under several feet of water.
Yes, it was the Sallins crew on Frontline. Their flood situation was compounded by other factors – the developer is gone bust; three management companies run the estate; the council are unlikely to take it in charge any time soon. They are in limbo.
But unlike the areas you mention, they received extensive coverage. They and Johnstown are close to Dublin and easily accessible by the camera crews from RTÉ.
Fault? Yes, of course it will rain and of course there will be floods. That’s nature. But when flooding happens where it never did before, or when development is permitted in locations prone to it, then there is blame to be laid.
Bottom line: Fuck with nature, and you are fucked.
Those unscrupulous donors are no different to the people who flounce into charity shops with sacks full of donations. It is only when they are gone and open the bags that you discover the clothes have legs and bite!
The security guard on the skips intrigues me… in fact the whole thing smells – pun intended.
Stay dry my friend.
Yep. I’ve seen that happen. The times I’ve taken stuff to those shops I always asked “would you be interested in …” and tried show what I had. Each time I was thanked and told bring it on in and at no time did anyone bother to check.
To lighten up a bit:
This is a question asked in an examination in the UK and the answer by a brilliant student.
Q: Name one measure which can be put into place to avoid river flooding in times of extensive rainfall(e.g. in Mississippi).
A: flooding in areas such as the Mississippi many be avoided by placing a number of big dames into the river.
I hope that Grannymar gets to see this.
I am still laughing at another from your list:
Q: Where was the American Declaration of Independence signed?
A: At the bottom.
I did! This old dame is all hot air and would just float off.