Wexford residents can no longer get home insurance due to Christmas Day floods of 2021
Wexford PeopleHomeowners in rural south Wexford are no longer able to get insurance for their houses due to the prevalence of flooding in the area. The most damaging of those floods occurred on Christmas Day 2021 and, ever since, residents in Bridgetown and its surrounding areas have urged the local council to take measures to prevent a repeat occurrence.
And at the July meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC) Aontú councillor Jim Codd sounded another warning for those who believed the problem had gone away.
“It’s not that long ago since we saw thousands of acres of our land underwater,” he said, “we have the lowest-lying land in the county and we are in the greatest danger of flooding from rain and rising tides. The Borough of Kilmore must be maintained and I’d encourage the council to work closely with farmers and residents there on addressing that; because land that has been reclaimed from the sea is land that is the greatest danger of returning there. That area is ground zero when it comes to the war on climate change.”
While some works on the canals has taken place, Cllr Codd said a more permanent fix was required to ensure the flood of Christmas Day 2021 was not a harbinger for the future.
“Residents in those areas are struggling to get home insurance, we’re going to have to come up with a radical solution for the canal that drains all that area. We don’t want to end up in the same position again.”
Responding to Cllr Codd’s query, senior planner Diarmuid Heuston said this was “a major piece of work” and that the council would address it further in the review of its County Development Plan in 2026.