Mayo County Council has spent €1.4 million so far in dealing with the fallout from the flooding that has affected the county since early December, but the final total cost of dealing with the after effects and trying to ensure it does not happen again will be in excess of €4 million.
Director of services for Mayo County Council, Paddy Mahon, gave the elected members of the council a presentation on the flooding at the January meeting of the local authority on Monday. The meeting was also attended by a large number of affected residents from the south Mayo area who watched the meeting from the public gallery.
According to Mr Mahon's report to the members there were 90 homes in the county that had to be evacuated because of the flood waters, with some 700 homes inaccessible for a period during the flooding and 80 businesses were directly affected by water levels.
Mr Mahon said that the council had recouped €980,000 of what it has spent so far from central government, and that it was still working out the final costs as things were still evolving, but expected it to be in the region of €4 millon if not more.
In the south of the county alone, he told the meeting, there were at least 84 separate locations that will need works carried out and the cost of raising The Neale crossroads, which was one of the most affected parts of the county, would cost between €500,000 and €600,000.
The issue of having a special meeting to deal with the flooding was raised again by Cllr Christy Hyland, but a number of councillors pointed out that unless the OPW and other agencies were at the meeting to answer questions it would be pointless.
