It’s claimed much more funding and resources are needed to combat future extreme weather events in Clare.
With the protracted spell of cold weather coming to an end over the coming days, major concerns have come to light after some rural communities in this county were effectively left snowed in.
Although the yellow weather warning for ice and low temperatures expired earlier this afternoon, roads and surfaces in many areas remain treacherous following overnight rain and snow, which has led to accumulations of black ice throughout the county.
Conditions on the R474 Kilmaley to Miltown Malbay road and R460 Inagh to Miltown Malbay Road are reported to be particularly dangerous following sustained heavy snowfall continuing right through to this morning.
Throughout the cold spell, Clare County Council engaged its Winter Maintenance Plan to salt priority routes up to three times a day and this largely concentrated on the most trafficked routes.
Various roads across the county were impassable during the week, with residents in the Gallows Hill area of Cratloe, Coore and those living near the Hand Hill in Miltown and Corkscrew Hill in Ballyvaughan most affected.
One county councillor believes salt stocks should be provided locally so that residents with trucks, ploughs and farmers with spreaders can treat roads in areas that would otherwise be cut off.
Quilty Fianna Fáil Councillor Michael Shannon believes emergency crews also need more resources.
One of Clare’s first time TD’s, meanwhile, is calling for trees and vegetation to be cut below power lines in advance of storms and future cold weather spells.
At the peak of this week’s outages, 1,150 homes and businesses in Clare were without power.
Bodyke Fine Gael TD Joe Cooney believes prolonged damage to power lines, outages , public safety risks and excessive costs can all be avoided with infrastructure upgrades and proper forward planning.
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