Dublin has seen constant rain over the past few weeks; in fact, this year’s January has been Dublin’s second wettest January on record. Despite the miserable atmosphere and the social harm caused by an increased desire to spend more time indoors, the worst impact of the rain has been the structural damage and disruption to Dublin life.
The flooding of the River Dodder, for example, made roads around Rathfarnham, Sandyford, Rathgar, and Nutgrove inaccessible and stopped cars to a complete standstill. Numerous homeowners across Dublin had their property damaged. On February 5th, the DART had to partially close its lines due to flooding.
Trinity was also affected by the flooding. A spokesperson for the college said the following to the University Times:
“Like all Dublin institutions, Trinity monitored the rain warnings carefully and was alert to any potential risk but, luckily, no major flooding incidents arose on our campus last week. There was some flooding in the Lloyd Institute basement which regrettably interrupted lectures in that area for a few days, while power has been affected in some non-residential buildings around Trinity Halls in Dartry.
Such intensive weather, especially heavy rain and strong winds means that our estate’s teams are kept busy during these periods.”
In a statement to the University Times, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) President Grace McNally said that “the flooding and severe weather caused a lot of disruption for students, especially for those trying to get to campus or move between buildings. We know how frustrating and stressful that was for many people”. She added: “During the disruption, TCDSU student spaces stayed open so students had somewhere to come in, dry off, and take a break, with safety and wellbeing being the main priority.”
Keelin Collins, a Senior Sophister environmental science and engineering student, had a lecture cancelled because of minor flooding in the Lloyd Institute. Collins said that she received notification of the cancellation “six minutes before the lecture”, calling it “a little bit ironic.” Collins also discussed the meteorological and structural reasons behind the extent of disruption caused by Dublin’s flooding: “with climate change, as it has been predicted forever, [and] with the Gulf Stream changing, this type of weather is going to be a new normal”. She mentioned that a huge problem in Ireland is that many homes and car parks, for example, are built on floodplains. She called for the implementation of natural solutions such as the introduction of beavers into the wild to create natural flood-preventing dams, as was done in Devon, England, as well as other remedies like permeable pavements, as a means to prevent future damage caused by flooding. She claimed that “the infrastructure for flooding is not very good in Dublin”. But to what extent was flooding forecasted to the public?
The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne, a TD with Fianna Fáil blamed Met Éireann, the state’s national meteorological service, for Ireland’s lack of preparedness in the face of flooding. Browne said on South East Radio that “[he] thinks more needs to be done on the communication side of it from Met Éireann”, and that they should “step up their communication with the public”. In response to this, Labour Party TD Ciaran Ahern said: “The comments… are extraordinary. Attempting to blame Met Éireann for a communications failure during Storm Chandra is ridiculous given his own failure to host a storm preparedness media briefing in advance of the Storm arriving on our shores.” Ahern went on to say that “many areas across the country are flooding due to this Government’s failure to fund flooding defence systems that have been called for for years”.
The Provost’s office has been contacted for comment on the disruption caused by flooding to the Trinity College community and staff.
