Crossmolina butcher Nigel Tolan whose business backs on to the Deel River spoke to the Mayo Advertiser about the major battle he had to keep his business from getting totally wiped out last Saturday. "We were very badly affected here, we spend day and night here, it was constant. It came in about two feet I'd say, the display cabinet was up near the roof floating on it, we nearly ran out of ceiling space because it was up so high.
"We lost a lot of stock and machinery all broken down, this machinery costs thousands and thousands of euro. We lost a full day's trading on Saturday in the run up to Christmas, we'll never see that money again and it's still quiet today around, who wants to come to a flooded town?"
With the cost of a number of other projects around the county reaching into sky high figures, a modest investment could stop this happening again to Crossmolina, Mr Tolan believes. "I don't know if it's Enda Kenny or whoever, but there's a new bypass going up to Castlebar and it's €166 million or around that, that's got the go ahead. We're only looking for €3 million to save our town, and this is the main road for Ballina to Belmullet and the whole region was cut off because of what happened, and they're getting a dual carriageway and we're also paying sky high rates here trying to keep business going. I don't know what we're working for, there are so many people being overpaid in different public services, whereas €100,000 would go an awful long way in this town to do something."
Mr Tolan was keen to praise the efforts put in by everyone in the community to help out their neighbours, friends, and acquaintances on Saturday during the floods, saying: "The people in the town were brilliant, there were people here soaked to the bone and shivering they were so cold, and they stayed with me all day long and they gave me their mobile numbers if I needed help with stuff, these are all just local people, getting no money, nothing, but doing things to help out other locals from the goodness of their heart."
He also called on the people of the area to support their local businesses even more in the coming weeks heading into Christmas, because they need them even more than ever he said. "We need support now more than ever from the locals and we've to urge them to shop locally especially at Christmas time."
