A lucky escape

LAST week’s dramatic rainfall caught motorists off guard with some forced to give up on their work commute and return home.

Heavy rain on Wednesday caused flash flooding and road closures around the country, but Dublin was worst hit with 47.4mm of rain falling in Dublin airport up to 3pm, 8.4mm of that falling between 7am and 8am.

Dublin Fire Brigade was called out to a number of incidents and there were reports of several cars stranded in floodwater in Portmarnock.

There was long delays on roads all around the city as motorists crawled their way through spot flooding.

One motorist had a lucky escape at a flooded junction near Scoil Bhride in Clonee.

Local man Eddie Kavanagh was driving along the road when his lights caught a reflection in the dark.

On closer inspection, he realised it was a Nissan that spun off the road into a ditch.

“I got through the flood which was over 18" high and pulled over to check if anyone was in the car,” he said.

“I couldn't get very close but I had a torch and could see it was empty, thank God.”

Eddie rang the gardaí in Ashbourne and informed them of this accident. It’s understood the owner escaped without injury and planned to return to recover his car later.