By 10am on Thursday, the water that had come pouring out of a burst water main at Dublin’s Fairview Park had receded just enough to allow the main road connecting the coastal towns stretching out to Howth to reopen.
The park itself, though, remained underwater and the businesses along Fairview Strand were still mopping up.
“It was so bad this morning,” said Pedro Heraque, sweeping water off the wooden floors of the Strand House pub with a brush wrapped in a tea-towel. “I came into work at 8am and the street outside was okay by that time but the porch was a little bit flooded and so was inside the pub.”
It was much the same story at the Two Pups cafe further down the strand as dawn broke, but by 10am the staff had got on top of things and it was almost business as usual.
Delilah Davis, originally from Boise, Idaho, but currently living close by in Phibsborough, was taking coffee orders after spending the first part of her shift sweeping water out on to the street.
Flooding in Fairview has subsided after a burst mains flooded a road earlier in the day. Picture: Enda O’Dowd
“It’s crazy. Fairview has a lake now,” she said looking out at the park, much of which was under at least a foot of water.
“We’re lucky as our floor is hard and we have a little lip on the door and the water came in just below that lip so all we needed to do was squeegee the water out and that only took a few minutes really.”
Out walking her dog, Mary Byrne from nearby Marino said she had never seen flooding on this scale in the area.
A burst mains water pipe caused flooding in Fairview in Dublin and a yellow weather warning threatened further flooding in the area. Picture: Enda O’Dowd
“I remember my dad telling me a story about a bad flood in the 1960s but I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.
“The houses were all fine because they are a good way back [from the water] but it is the businesses on the strand that I feel sorry for. And my dog is afraid of water so he had no idea what to make of all this.”
Independent councillor Kevin Breen was on the scene and he said the neighbourhood had been caught out by the scale of the flooding overnight.
“It is a big surprise and it is a quite significant level of flooding,” he said. “I just have to commend Uisce Eireann, the guards and the council for the emergency response,” he said. “But it has been a big shock.”
He highlighted the traffic chaos during rush hour and the potential for water shortages in the area as the council worked to repair the damage. “But it is amazing. a miracle, really, how it was cleared up so quickly.”