2009 Press Releases
Flood damage at UCC
20.11.2009
Substantial flood damage to a number of key buildings at University College Cork (UCC) has forced the postponement of all lectures for the week beginning November 23rd 2009. Lectures will resume as normal from Monday, November 30th 2009.
20.11.2009
Substantial flood damage to a number of key buildings at University College Cork (UCC) has forced the postponement of all lectures for the week beginning November 23rd 2009. Lectures will resume as normal from Monday, November 30th 2009.
UCC staff and the University’s insurers were attempting to make an initial assessment of the damage throughout the day. Some 14 buildings, including the newly-opened Western Gateway Building on the Western Road, the Tyndall National Institute, student accommodation, the Mardyke Arena Sports Complex and the Glucksman Gallery, were badly affected by the flooding which began in the early hours of Friday morning after engineers at the Inniscarra dam in Cork allowed a massive volume of water to be released into the River Lee system. The engineers said that failure to do so would have caused even worse damage in the Lee Valley and surrounding low-lying areas of Cork City.
Priority was given to finding emergency accommodation for students whose apartments were damaged during the flooding, communicating with staff and putting in place a range of responsive actions to deal with the emergency. UCC has extensive student accommodation surrounding the main campus but, unfortunately, most of the student buildings were affected by the unprecedented severity of the flooding. The University’s Campus Accommodation Office was in a position to offer replacement accommodation by this afternoon.
The on-going evaluation of damage to the UCC buildings, facilities and equipment may take some time and the University said it was not a position at this time to give a clear indication of what the eventual cost might be. Further precautionary measures are being taken in relation to the likelihood of flooding re-occurring over the week-end.
UCC’s Senior Management expressed their gratitude to staff who had worked throughout the night to ensure the safety of students and to do what was possible to protect buildings.
Picture: Western Gateway Building
Priority was given to finding emergency accommodation for students whose apartments were damaged during the flooding, communicating with staff and putting in place a range of responsive actions to deal with the emergency. UCC has extensive student accommodation surrounding the main campus but, unfortunately, most of the student buildings were affected by the unprecedented severity of the flooding. The University’s Campus Accommodation Office was in a position to offer replacement accommodation by this afternoon.
The on-going evaluation of damage to the UCC buildings, facilities and equipment may take some time and the University said it was not a position at this time to give a clear indication of what the eventual cost might be. Further precautionary measures are being taken in relation to the likelihood of flooding re-occurring over the week-end.
UCC’s Senior Management expressed their gratitude to staff who had worked throughout the night to ensure the safety of students and to do what was possible to protect buildings.
Picture: Western Gateway Building