No disrespect to the weather thread, but I'm starting this thread to discuss the outlook for, and implications of, a permament shift in the weather in Ireland. A climatologist says here that our wet summer is not a one-off event.

http://www.examiner.ie/story/Ireland/qlaukfcwkf/rss2/


There are big cost implications for infrastructure and agriculture if this summer is to be typical.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhqleyaukfoj/

It's all falling during August lads - catch a rake of it up in Dublin while he can before ye start drinking the Shannon next year.

And this about the housing ... is it another feature of poor planning?

Quote :

"We have had a short term view of where we put housing in terms of risk in the past. One hopes this is a lesson for the design standards which will come out from the Department of the Environment hopefully later this year," he said.

"The indications are there will be an emphasis on protecting housing structures rather than avoiding flood risk areas.

"There are 400 locations across the country prone to flood risk. We cannot protect all of those even if we stop building in flood plains now."

I have heard that half the IFSC and alot of the new legal development on Sir John Rogerson's Quay are fairly prone to flooding in the coming decades.

Auditor #9 wrote:

It's all falling during August lads - catch a rake of it up in Dublin while he can before ye start drinking the Shannon next year.

And this about the housing ... is it another feature of poor planning?

Quote :

"We have had a short term view of where we put housing in terms of risk in the past. One hopes this is a lesson for the design standards which will come out from the Department of the Environment hopefully later this year," he said.

"The indications are there will be an emphasis on protecting housing structures rather than avoiding flood risk areas.

"There are 400 locations across the country prone to flood risk. We cannot protect all of those even if we stop building in flood plains now."

This sounds like vested interests to me. The apartments in Carlow that are flooded were built on sites that were used for warehouses before, and quite likely were locally known to flood. I am just sending a comment in on a draft Local Area Plan that proposes to build over an area where I have seen people rowing boats. Planners generally have no local knowledge and zone lands without checking if they flood. They think that empty sites in towns and villages are there because local people were too stupid to build on them. They zone them and put in a policy to encourage "infill development". Three years later, the flood comes.

Imo it is inexcusable to zone lands that flood. The floodwater is displaced and floods elsewhere and there is an additional cost on trying to floodproof houses.

http://flood.firetree.net/?ll=53.4252,-6.1316&z=4&m=3

My house goes under at 3 Meters sea level rise. I should be OK for a few hundred years. Might not be able to get to it though..

cactus flower wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

It's all falling during August lads - catch a rake of it up in Dublin while he can before ye start drinking the Shannon next year.

And this about the housing ... is it another feature of poor planning?

Quote :

"We have had a short term view of where we put housing in terms of risk in the past. One hopes this is a lesson for the design standards which will come out from the Department of the Environment hopefully later this year," he said.

"The indications are there will be an emphasis on protecting housing structures rather than avoiding flood risk areas.

"There are 400 locations across the country prone to flood risk. We cannot protect all of those even if we stop building in flood plains now."

This sounds like vested interests to me. The apartments in Carlow that are flooded were built on sites that were used for warehouses before, and quite likely were locally known to flood. I am just sending a comment in on a draft Local Area Plan that proposes to build over an area where I have seen people rowing boats. Planners generally have no local knowledge and zone lands without checking if they flood. They think that empty sites in towns and villages are there because local people were too stupid to build on them. They zone them and put in a policy to encourage "infill development". Three years later, the flood comes.

Imo it is inexcusable to zone lands that flood. The floodwater is displaced and floods elsewhere and there is an additional cost on trying to floodproof houses.

If you knew the 2 developers who "own" Carlow town - they would build on a live Volcano if they could get away with it - and they have the council in their backpocket.

Sue the bastards for all their worth - no chance of their cribs getting flooded - out under Mount Leinster where they can survey their dominions - and the most vuglar over the top nouveau rich palaces that would embarrass the Hearsts!

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?f=160&t=39715

There's a fair bit of blame against Fianna Fail in the thread above, all of which I didn't read. Does the Local Authority really have the final say on these things? I must keep an eye out to see if the likes of Ennis has been built on the floodplain. Is there not a way around it? Houses on stilts or something?

I wonder could thistype of thing galvanise a lot of the older people into either voting Green (which I doubt) or breaking the balls of their local councillor about developments which the media might reveal as potentially going ahead on flood plains?

Or do people have the memories of goldfish and by this time next year, this flooding might as well be so far back in history as to be concurrent with the slaughtering of Brian Boru?

Auditor #9 wrote:

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?f=160&t=39715

There's a fair bit of blame against Fianna Fail in the thread above, all of which I didn't read. Does the Local Authority really have the final say on these things? I must keep an eye out to see if the likes of Ennis has been built on the floodplain. Is there not a way around it? Houses on stilts or something?

I wonder could thistype of thing galvanise a lot of the older people into either voting Green (which I doubt) or breaking the balls of their local councillor about developments which the media might reveal as potentially going ahead on flood plains?

Or do people have the memories of goldfish and by this time next year, this flooding might as well be so far back in history as to be concurrent with the slaughtering of Brian Boru?

Audi - the problem in my humble opinion is that zoning and planning is the only power which local elected officials have - all the rest is in the hands of central government - where local elected officals have to get down on their hands and knees to the country manager and his entourage to get anything done.

Its a receipt for dysfunction and corruption - local elected officals should have a say in all matters local and there should be much more direct local democracy over such issues.

Its pot luck if you get a good county manager who shows awareness of his/her brief - but yer fecked if they dont as there is no way of removing them.

Kate P will probably disagree with this - but unless we start to entrust our local affairs to local elected officals and measure and rate them on this basis - then nothing is going to change - I really like the US version of local democracy.

Edo wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?f=160&t=39715

There's a fair bit of blame against Fianna Fail in the thread above, all of which I didn't read. Does the Local Authority really have the final say on these things? I must keep an eye out to see if the likes of Ennis has been built on the floodplain. Is there not a way around it? Houses on stilts or something?

I wonder could thistype of thing galvanise a lot of the older people into either voting Green (which I doubt) or breaking the balls of their local councillor about developments which the media might reveal as potentially going ahead on flood plains?

Or do people have the memories of goldfish and by this time next year, this flooding might as well be so far back in history as to be concurrent with the slaughtering of Brian Boru?

Audi - the problem in my humble opinion is that zoning and planning is the only power which local elected officials have - all the rest is in the hands of central government - where local elected officals have to get down on their hands and knees to the country manager and his entourage to get anything done.

Its a receipt for dysfunction and corruption - local elected officals should have a say in all matters local and there should be much more direct local democracy over such issues.

Its pot luck if you get a good county manager who shows awareness of his/her brief - but yer fecked if they dont as there is no way of removing them.

Kate P will probably disagree with this - but unless we start to entrust our local affairs to local elected officals and measure and rate them on this basis - then nothing is going to change - I really like the US version of local democracy.

Well, I agree. The Town Meeting has a lot to be said for it. Local Councillors should have to raise a local tax, make a budget with the revenue and provide the services.

btw, County Managers are in for 7 years and then their contracts can only be renewed by the agreement of the Councillors.

By local elected officials do you mean local TDs? I think Pat Breen has been caught loitering around the planners office in Ennis County Council and Brian Meaney too of the Greens, although he might have been there to protest.

Aren't the councillors elected too though? Any chance you'd enlighten us a bit more on how local democracy should work in this area of planning etc. Edo?

Cactus does that County Manager information apply across the country and if you happen to know what it is they do and how processes go through their hands please feel free to spout forward.

Carlow in 1995



http://www.opw.ie/services/eng_ser/eng_work.htm

Coalmarket Kilkenny 1963

That must have been every car there was in Kilkenny.

Try this next windy day. http://www.wjno.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=244038&article=4117332

Nice one there youngdan...people will seek their thrills

SeathrúnCeitinn wrote:

Nice one there youngdan...people will seek their thrills

There were a few stories of people who were supposed to have surfed the tsunami. Not likely as the wrong type of wave apparently. This is a good one though:

youngdan wrote:

Try this next windy day. http://www.wjno.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=244038&article=4117332

Man oh man, that guy got more than he bargained for.

Served him right. Had he been reading Auditors posts he would know what power the wind has.

Ever tried to walk over sheet ice on a windy day?

Squire wrote:

Ever tried to walk over sheet ice on a windy day?

Is it something like this?




















*crunch...crunch...crunch*

The river level has finally gone down, and the cloud is much thinner - almost a bright morning.

A big landslide in the west, a derailed train and a part of Carlow under water for a week. The mitigation costs of global warming aren't going to come cheap.

More than 500 people have died in the flooding in Haiti.
This is awful. It is the old and children most vulnerable, same as with Katrina.

So far, Cuba seems to have managed better, and has evacuated large areas for the last week or so.

Are you in the ice storm, youngdan, huddled over a paraffin lamp?
Climate change is so unpredictable.

I am going for a 2 mile walk now so when I thaw out I will report. When my teeth realy chatter with the cold the resulting sound is something like Iiibees Iiibees Iiibees.