Lessons from storm Chandra

A lot of blame with the local authorities for lack of maintenance of drainage infrastructure.

Some interesting bits in here on it:

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2026/0129/1555691-ireland-flood-warning-system-storm-chandra-dr-nick-scroxton/

Just to be clear, I ain't for or against some kinda flood warning system - however theres no doubt in my mind it's benefits would be extremely limited.

I do think its far more important that ongoing investment is put into the three items I mentioned earlier, rather than something like this.

I have no grá for MÉ. I've a PITA listening to family members and friends giving out yards over something that has SFA to do with MÉ. You want the maps to be more accurate than they currently are, as they're too broad……..that's a call for accuracy. Call it granularity all you want, you're just being pedantic about words because you contradicted yourself and were called out on it.

Whether ME has the data or not, isn't the point.

Hold the phone……you want MÉ to warn people what areas to avoid and you think that them not having the data on which areas to avoid isn't relevant to the point? It's the entire point. You want them to release data that they may not have.

Another poster already pointed out that the OPW has the data on river levels. It's a matter of cooperation between the two agencies.

You're changing the goalposts. You wanted a map with smaller shaded areas than a whole county. Now you want a multi-agency joint task force to be established for something that is completely outside their remit. You've no idea if the OPW stuff is even true, but you've already laid the blame at the feet of who you want to be wrong.

Interestingly, I got an email from Fingal Co Co. with a yellow flooding warning for tomorrow for the whole county. What is anyone supposed to do with that? Is the risk the same as a normal yellow warning, or like yesterday? Is it the same on the coast or inland?

Ignore it like you did the previous one, see how you get on. Better yet, ignore it, then start moaning when your travel plans get disrupted. Here's a tip: if there was flooding earlier in the week, there's a good chance it'll happen again. Or if you're near a river or a stream, there's a good chance they'll burst their banks. I should be charging for this info.

For what it's worth, Prof John Sweeney from Maynooth was on Drivetime this evening making much the same point, that what people need are more localised flood predictions, along with the valid point that the old model of once in 20 years or once in 50 or 100 year floods is obsolete. We need to deal with the new normal.

Hard to counter this without actually listening to what he said, but you never said that people need more localised flood predictions…..you said they need them to be published by Met Éireann on their website, even though you've no idea if they have the data to publish and have just now said that whether or not they DO have the data is irrelevant. Of course it's relevant, it's the entire basis of your frustration with them in the first place.

That's pretty much what Min. James Browne accused them of.

Min. Browne is accusing them of deliberately withholding information that you are adamant is not relevant to the discussion. What information? You're claiming he's talking about the same information that you're looking for, despite there being zero in his statements about localised/granular data. He's also hauling them over the coals about their comms, despite the fact that you've already accepted that you were warned and ignored it. There's just no winning with some people.

We don't need a map with nice colours to tell us that the rivers are gonna break their banks. We need better banks. We need increased flood protection systems. We need upgrades to the storm and sewage systems in the country. We need investment in defence against the new normal. That's nothing to do with MÉ, that's to do with the government. Perhaps Min. Browne should speak with his buddies in the Dáil bar before rounding on others. Good to know he has all that time to criticise others, he must have all of his own ducks in a row if he's chastising other Government bodies. What's his brief again? Minister for………?

Just on the whole weather warning thing.

Is it not beyond the realm of possibility that people take their faces away from weather prediction sites on their phones, and look outside the window and know what's happening?

For example, looking out the window at the rain all day, I can conclude that there's likely going to be a lot of water on the roads, the road I usually drive home may have the usual parts flooded, so I may take it handy regardless.

Mad to think what preparation you can come up with from simple observation.

Indeed theres warnings again for tonight and tomorrow and the ground conditions are the same if not worse so there will be more flooding because its not the immediate rain that's causing the flooding but the constant rain we've had over the last 2 weeks but still people will be on complaining how they werent warned…..

I am still chuckling at the poster in another thread who wanted weather warnings based on parish. Thats how granular he wanted Met Eireann to be.

They can only give a warning on the severity of the event in fairness. It was the weeks of bloody rain beforehand that caused the flooding.

Aye fair enough .. presumably someone should have foreseen that. The people dealing with their homes being flooded don't care whether the agency giving the warnings has a brief to take into account the amount of recent rainfall or not. They just want information that is accurate and will warn them that they're going to be scooping water out of their gaffs or not

Based on the number of "if the drains were clear this wouldn't happen" comments, people seem to think there's cavernous underground channels capable of carrying away billions of litres of water under every street. A 1-2 foot wide pipe draining a street is going to make minimal difference in a major flooding event.

Even then, these drains tend to drain into the local river. What happens when the river bursts its banks and floods the region? Do they think the drains will take in the water and magically vaporise it? If the entire area is under a meter of water, a drainpipe underground won't clear it.

Following the floods on Kings Island in Limerick in 2009 an 2014 work only began in 2024 and is still ongoing.

You give us yellow and red warnings and nothing happens.

You give us no (or minimal) warnings and the worst flooding in a generation happens "

The problem is that met eireann is too mathematical and definition based for simple warnings. They have a strict definition of what a yellow warning means a certain specific amount of rainfall in a 24hr period. However that is not adequate enough if you are giving information to the general population. Obviously they don't have all the data to be able to give the full information like the uk met and authorities do. Therefore the simple colour coded warnings are not adequate for Ireland and should never have been introduced. That would probably give met eireann more leeway to give better advice as they wouldn't be so constrained by the definitions of what constitutes yellow, red warnings etc. Also it would stop the media sensationalising these colour warnings as they would more nuanced and specific.

It should still be up to met eireann though in collaboration with county councils to give the actual flood warnings as they have the national media and respect of public which county Councils don't have. How is the county council supposed to get out an urgent warning like for eniscorthy, it is only met eireann that can do that