BANTRY town has been experiencing major flooding events since at least 1898, according to archived copies of The Southern Star.
A trawl through the national newspaper archives this week revealed that while there have been several instances of bad flooding in recent years, people in the town have been reporting issues regarding flooding as far back as the end of the 19th century.
A local meeting in the town in 1898, which was reported in the paper, saw local officials disagreeing over who should pay for work on the town’s sewers, after a ‘recent flood’.
‘Raging torrents swirl through streets of town’ roared a headline in 1937 over a report which said the water was 5ft high in parts of the town.
In December 1945 the town was again affected by heavy rains which also hit Clonakilty and Kinsale – and swept away part of a wall in Crosshaven.
The paper reported, in 1963, that Skibbereen and Bantry were both badly hit by flooding in November, just two years after the paper had reported – in October 1961 – that the Bantry area had been hit by some of the worst flooding ‘in the town’s history’.
Pick up a copy of this week's Southern Star for comprehensive reports on last weekend's flooding in Bantry, on page 1, 2 and 13.
See images of the Star's reporting throughout the years below:
October 1898.
November 1957.
October 1937.
December 1945.
November 1963.
