Cork is situated on the southern coast of Ireland within the Lee Catchment. The city of Cork boasts a rich history, however, the city’s coastal marsh location has meant that it has suffered from a number of devastating floods with the most recent in 2009 and 2014. While the Inniscarra and Carrigadrohid dams have reduced the frequency of moderate river floods, tidal flood risk as well as the danger of more extreme river floods remain, and will only increase in the face of climate change.

 

The Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme is the result of over a decade of study utilising cutting edge technology to review the most recent data and science, alongside local community needs, and the current and future climate context which adopts a multifaceted approach and is the only viable solution to Cork’s Flooding problem.

 

Some 900 homes and 1200 businesses will be protected by optimising the benefits of the dams, introducing state of the art flood forecasting, better managing flow between the north and the south channel, and incorporating low level integrated defence elements, all of which will provide the resilience needed to ensure Cork can continue to grow and thrive.

 

The Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme aims to put the river back at the heart of the city through a series of proposed riverside walkways, cycleways and plazas, as well as improved recreational river access.

 

City parks will be enlarged and re-imagined with a focus on increased biodiversity, benefitting the environmental health of the city. Respectfully repairing and strengthening the quays will prevent potential collapse of these unique historic and vital infrastructure assets, as well as safeguarding historic structures that currently lay within the flood risk area.

 

The Scheme design has evolved, taking into consideration the valuable public feedback received as well as some significant legislative changes and societal changes that have occurred in recent years including updates to the Lee Fields, Fitzgerald's Park, Sullivan's Quay and North Mall.

 

The Scheme has carefully considered climate change using the best available scientific evidence. None of the infrastructure proposed as part of the Lower Lee Flodd Relief Scheme will ever become redundant and will always be needed as part of a long term integrated flood defence scheme. The Scheme is a key component of Cork’s long-term climate change adaptation strategy and is flexible to respond to a changing future climate.

 

Since the outset of the project, the Scheme has continuously developed and evolved. The current Scheme can be summarised as follows:

 

  • Increased robustness and confidence in the underlying hydrological/hydraulic analysis underpinning the design, as a result of a comprehensive upgrade of the network of rainfall and river gauges and consequently bringing the detailed analysis up to date by analysing all available site-specific gauge data up to the present day.
  • Improved proposed flood management operational regime that will manage each event specific to its unique characteristics and that takes account of the tide, as a result of enhancements to the flood forecasting system, improved rainfall forecasts, and significant testing/validation of the near operation-ready flood forecasting system
  • A Scheme design which has considered each, and every submission received to date from members of the public and other stakeholders with significant changes made as a result where appropriate.
  • A Scheme design which has placed environmental enhancement, low carbon design, circular design principles and biodiversity enhancement principles at the core of the design philosophy.
  • An integrated design driven Scheme which has been shaped by a key objective to put placemaking at the heart of the design, which is respectful of our heritage, and which aims to ensure that the river is at the heart of the city.
  • A forward-looking Scheme that has been developed as part of a longer-term climate change strategy with a combination of upfront provisions now built in where feasible, as well as components which are designed to be easily adapted in the future if necessary.

 

The Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme is the only plan that meets the needs of Cork today, while providing the flexibility to respond to the needs of the future, employing a variety of design solutions to significantly reduce flood risk and ensure that the city of Cork can achieve its full potential as a place to live, work, visit and do business.

 

Benefits of Scheme

 

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