Press release

ESB Statement on Flood Warnings on River Lee on November 19, 2009

The report to Cork City Council on Monday, December 7th, confirms that ESB issued warnings relating to the unprecedented flooding on the River Lee on November 19th and 20th.

ESB strongly rejects subsequent interpretations of the report that the company’s warnings seriously underestimated the volume of water that had to be discharged from the Inniscarra Dam. Such a perception is inaccurate and misleading.

At 10.55 on the morning of November 19th, ESB informed Cork City Council that a serious flood situation was developing on the River Lee and that it was necessary to increase the discharge of flood waters from Inniscarra to levels that would result in serious flooding. The company also alerted the emergency services and local radio.

In a repeated warning at 17.16, ESB informed Cork City Council that major flooding would occur downstream from Inniscarra Dam as the situation was escalating. In light of the very high levels of water entering the reservoirs following unprecedented rainfall in the locality, ESB informed the Local Authorities there would be numerous increases in the discharge rate from Inniscarra over the course of the evening.

Given the increasing gravity of the situation and in addition to local warnings, ESB contacted RTE to issue a flood alert on the Lee shortly before 18.00 and stated that the volumes of water now entering Inniscarra Lake was the largest seen in modern times. It would be necessary to discharge flood waters “accordingly” through the dams. The statement warned of the ‘danger of severe flooding’ between the dam and Cork city.

Given the unprecedented levels of water entering the reservoirs, it was not possible to predict what volume of water would be discharged throughout the evening. At no stage did ESB indicate that the situation had stabilised nor did it specify a limit to the discharge rate that would issue from Inniscarra dam.

ESB looks forward to the review that the Minister for the Environment., Mr John Gormley, has indicated will take place to examine all aspects of the flood.

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