{"id":274299,"date":"2026-01-31T20:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/274299\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T20:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:38:11","slug":"does-climate-change-make-small-streams-and-more-frequent-flooding-new-risks-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/274299\/","title":{"rendered":"Does climate change make small streams and more frequent flooding new risks? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Often the Loughlinstown river seems to be fighting for its title. <\/p>\n

On stretches of the meandering waterway in south Dublin<\/a>, it appears no more than an ornamental stream \u2013 puny, pretty and harmless. <\/p>\n

As Johan Keating dragged sodden possessions from the downstairs of his home this week, the little river that trickled uneventfully through his entire life had left scars he couldn\u2019t previously have imagined. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt flooded<\/a> before, in 2011, but it wasn\u2019t bad. Maybe an inch of water,\u201d he recalls of the first time the site on family land in Kilternan<\/a> where he built in 2010 was hit. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe skirting warped but I hammered it back in place. I did eventually replace the floorboards with tiles but it wasn\u2019t a big deal. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, everything\u2019s destroyed. Seven inches of water at least. All the furniture, the washing machine, the kitchen. I don\u2019t even know the extent of the damage yet \u2013 if it got under the tiles or how far down the sockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohanJohan Keating at his flooded home in Kilternan, Co. Dublin, where he’s keeping dehumidifiers running. Photographs: Nick Bradshaw
\n \"“This\u201cThis time, everything\u2019s destroyed,” says Keating. “Seven inches of water at least. All the furniture, the washing machine, the kitchen.” <\/p>\n

Keating\u2019s story is similar to many told by householders affected by Storm Chandra along the east coast this week, and countrywide in recent years. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018No one was pumping the water\u2019: Rathfarnham deals with Storm Chandra aftermathOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Bigger rivers are known for their floods but all around the island there are smaller pockets of homes in rural clusters and suburban streets where trickling streams are becoming torrents as climate change brings more rain in increasingly intense downpours. <\/p>\n

Of the 100 flood relief schemes currently in design, planning or construction, many are labelled minor works, intended to protect on average a few dozen properties. At least 50 more are on a longer-term list.<\/p>\n

As pressure to build new houses increases, there are concerns that the proximity between homes and these waterways may decrease. <\/p>\n

Conor Murphy knows rivers. He\u2019s studied them, measured them, tracked the evolution of their flow and levels and analysed the drivers of what\u2019s changing them. <\/p>\n

In all sorts of ways he\u2019s immersed in them. But would the Maynooth University geography professor live beside one? <\/p>\n

Adamantly, no, he says. He doesn\u2019t want to end up physically immersed in one. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s not the only one. <\/p>\n

A senior hydrologist working for a State agency who spoke on condition of anonymity also immediately answered no when asked if they would set up home near a river. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sensitive issue because there is a fear of appearing smug when many people have little choice about where they live or defeatist when so many are pinning their hopes on experts finding flooding solutions for them. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be really difficult to predict floods in urban locations; there are so many factors that influence them,\u201d says Murphy is who part of the Icarus climate research centre at Maynooth University. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0In the absence of urgency, only thing changing is our weatherOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to take a more holistic view of river catchments. That means everything upstream where the river comes from, the upland areas at the upper reaches and what\u2019s happening there. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow the land is drained for agriculture, how it\u2019s deforested \u2013 all this has an impact on river flow downstream,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there is the need for infrastructure investment at the point where inundation happens but we also need to think what\u2019s happening further up and find ways to slow the flow and decrease the flood peak.\u201d <\/p>\n

Slowing the flow is also the passion of Mary Bourke, a professor in geomorphology at Trinity College Dublin who studies natural hazards and flood management.<\/p>\n

She advocates restoring natural flood plains upstream and paying farmers to allow their land to be permanently or periodically set aside as flood defences. <\/p>\n

The same principle can also apply to urban areas where green spaces that acted as sponges are built on and concrete plazas and driveways replace gardens. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have your own home, don\u2019t pave over your garden, put in a rain butt to catch the runoff from your roof, even planters will catch rain if you don\u2019t have much space,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all in this together and we must work together to help ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

Too late, sighs Keating, who points to recent development in the field beside his home as the main cause of his problems. <\/p>\n

\"KeatingKeating showing water levels and destroyed equipment at his home in Kilternan. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to soak up the water when the river got high but there\u2019s nowhere for the water to go now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd those new houses got flooded too so it\u2019s not just me I feel bad for \u2013 they\u2019ve been left with this situation too.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We couldn\u2019t get out of the house\u2019: Mother of five woke to sound of water running through kitchenOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Murphy empathises: \u201cThe most powerful tool we have at our disposal is planning,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important in a housing crisis when we\u2019re facing into increased building that we don\u2019t put new builds in flood plains and that we take account of how current pressures will play out with ongoing climate change.\u201d <\/p>\n

If the planners aren\u2019t looking at this, insurers certainly are. <\/p>\n

A Central Bank report in 2024 found one in 20 buildings was uninsurable for flood risk because flood cover was denied or was too expensive. <\/p>\n

The Department of Finance has since set up a working group with the Office of Public Works and industry body, Insurance Ireland, which is examining this \u201cflood protection gap\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is acknowledged at an EU level that this gap may widen in the light of the increasing frequency and severity of weather events due to climate change,\u201d a department spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWork is under way to consider potential solutions, specific to Ireland, to increase the availability and affordability flood insurance.\u201d <\/p>\n

Neither the department or Insurance Ireland would say whether State-provided flood insurance was being considered. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a gap but it\u2019s 5 per cent which is low by international standards and there are a few components to reducing it,\u201d said Insurance Ireland spokesman Michael Moran. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot building on flood plains, building flood defences, making homes more flood resilient with tiled floors and raising electrical sockets \u2013 all those will help.\u201d <\/p>\n

Property owners often hold the anecdotal belief that they will not get flood insurance within 100 metres of a waterway but Moran was coy.<\/p>\n

\u201cInsurance companies make their own individual underwriting decisions,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is no generic kind of rule like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Keating is not keen to find out. \u201cI have flood insurance but I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll claim off it,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t the last time and if I claim, my premium will go way up \u2013 if they even agree to insure me again.\u201d <\/p>\n

The issues Storm Chandra brought to the fore have been well flagged with extreme rainfall previously considered a one-in-100 year probability now happening much more frequently.<\/p>\n

The National Climate Change Risk Assessment published by the Environmental Protection Agency last summer warns Ireland will see \u201can increase in the frequency and severity of river, surface water, and groundwater flooding events\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the prevalence of hard surfaces which exacerbate flood risk, the built environment is considered particularly exposed to flood-related impacts, with transport infrastructure and buildings highly exposed.\u201d <\/p>\n

Alarmingly, it sees these risks \u201cincreasing to critical by mid-century, with potential to reach catastrophic levels of consequence by the end of the century\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know what way to think about all of this,\u201d says Keating. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a no-brainer for us to build here because we had the site and it\u2019s beside family but would I advise anyone else? <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. We have rivers and streams everywhere. Unless you\u2019re going to live on a mountaintop I don\u2019t know is anyone completely safe.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Often the Loughlinstown river seems to be fighting for its title. On stretches of the meandering waterway in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2885,25815,1398,615,246,11654,849,61,5166,60,133716,76685,32235,82,131111,15342],"class_list":{"0":"post-274299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-climate-sustainability","10":"tag-department-of-finance","11":"tag-dublin","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-environmental-protection-agency-epa","14":"tag-floods","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-insurance-ireland","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-kilternan","19":"tag-maynooth-university","20":"tag-office-of-public-works","21":"tag-science","22":"tag-storm-chandra","23":"tag-trinity-college-dublin-tcd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}