Our homes are precious places. They are the last bastion of the day dreamer, they are the harbours to which our emotional ships flee in time of strife and bother. To our homes, we afford a feeling of invincibility because they are not bolstered alone by bricks and mortar, but by love and memories and familial strength. That is why when homes are burgled, so much more is lost than the goods that are taken. What is stolen first and foremost is the sanctity of the home, that the boundaries have been breached by someone not welcome, not invited.
For the last year, homes in rural Ireland have been attacked and visited by persons unwelcome. The prospect of this leads many to sleep fitfully because of their fear that their walls will be breached, their personal safety threatened and their memories defaced.
But over that there is some element of control — alarms, doors, bolts can preserve a home from a burglar, even if this still does not relax the mind. Therefore the trauma that is befalling hundreds of houses tonight is one with which we have to empathize.
For families who live in areas threatened by the rising flood waters, there is a growing sense of helplessness. Sandbags and kindly neighbours can only do so much when the enemy falls from the sky, when the babbling brook turns into a beast, when the peaceful waters of summer are replaced by the dirty raging floods, sweeping dirt and disease and mud in through the front door, lifting floors, destroying electrics, making the pristine house a place of stinking damp. Ruining a house and a home at the same time.
Galway is no stranger to this. I recall covering flood hit homes in north Galway two decades ago; the disaster of south Galway six years ago and the trauma of Claregalway a year later. We do not live in Asia where such floods are commonplace, where waters reach more than 10 feet deep, where monsoon rains fall and damage an already brittle infrastructure. But there is surely more that can be done, especially since extreme weather is an accepted fact of modern times.
We are not alone in this. The UK suffers badly in the Lake District; France and Belgium and Germany have fallen prey to flash floods that occur when rivers burst banks, where flood plains have been tampered with. We are a small island and much local knowledge exists as to how these floods can be prevented. We can only hope that some solution is found so that we can adapt to the ever so frequent floods that terrorise families and have their heart racing at the first sound of rain on the roof. For most of us, the rain is an annoyance. For many more, it is a destroyer of homes.
This week spare a thought for those who have to flee their homes, who face repair bills without the safety net of insurance cover. To happen so close to Christmas is devastating for many families. Over the next few days, the floods are set to increase in intensity. Do what you can to help neighbours. The worst may be yet to come.
