There is a lot of inappropriate comment about inappropriate planning and
some of it is coming from my own crowd. It is the lazy politically populist
reaction to the havoc caused by the recent flooding in Ennis.

For example there once was a flood plain to the east of Ennis at Cappahard .
This floodplain of around 80 acres was part of the Fergus estuary. After
the construction of the barrage in Clarecastle in 1954 these lands continued
to flood during high tides. But now the flooding was fresh water from the
river rather than saline estuary water.

This flooding continued until 1981 when property owners constructed an
embankment extending from the Tulla rd to the boundary of the Doora
floodplain . (Now there is another story)

This embankment was built to keep the lands free from the effects of the
river Fergus. This property was no longer a floodplain.

I am not saying that it was right to build houses in this area after the
construction of the embankment but we need to understand that it was not
the construction of the houses in these areas that are influencing the
height of the Fergus as it flows through Ennis. It was the construction of
the embankment to protect agricultural land that was the problem. Houses
should never have built in what was once part of the Fergus Estuary. It may
be less traumatic on residents facing yearly flood and more economical on the
state to compensate residents and re-house them on higher ground rather
than build expensive infrastructure to control floodwater.

In the week prior to the flooding in Ennis the amount of rain that fell in
the upper Fergus and Claureen catchment was nearly three hundred percent
more that what is considered normal.

Is this part of climate change?

There is no doubt that climate change has been happening and is happening.
Global temperatures have increased over the last century, particularly
during the last 2 decades of the 20th century, although there has not been
an obvious continuation of this increase over the last few years. There is
visible evidence of this change in the noticeably warmer conditions, the
melting of polar ice and glaciers and, closer to home, in reduced instances
of frost and snow and in longer and earlier growing seasons for plants and
crops.
Day to day weather is a reflection of the current climate. The extreme
rainfall which we are experiencing in Ennis is an example of the variability
of our current climate, such events are likely to have happened in the past,
and are likely to happen again in the future. The main question is .. are they
likely to become more frequent or severe? Current climate model predictions
are that, by mid-century, we will see increased rainfall in Clare and a
change in the character of our rainfall to include more frequent heavy
falls. This is not good news for towns like Ennis.