I’m not sure how best way to share this but me and my wife’s home in Inchicore Dublin on Friday night suffered catastrophic damage due to collapse of the Camac River wall.
Additionally, several support beams for the nearby river tunnel/culvert have collapsed. Without urgent action, the tunnel will collapse blocking the river and will flood much of Inchicore and surrounding areas. The tunnel is publicly accessible and there is a risk to life if it were to go while people are walking over it.
We have had multiple structural surveys from 2 different civil engineers since we bought the house in 2021. While subsidence and river undermining had been flagged, at no point have we ever been told that our home was at immediate risk or that urgent action needed to be taken by us.
DCC and OPW were made aware of these issues in 2022/23 but did not act. We’ve been now engaging them since the collapse, flagging the immediate risks however they have again been slow to respond with any action as they are sighting the homeowners as responsible for these river structures.
We are honestly devastated and now facing homeless as we try to figure out if our parents or relatives can house us while we try to focus on repairing our home.
I’ll link the news articles and our social media posts in a comment but me and my wife just want to raise awareness of our situation to hopefully press the DCC into action.
mrbuddymcbuddyface on
Looks like it’s going to get worse before getting better, if DCC first response is – we need to ascertain ownership of the river walls….
Good luck OP
Luimneach17 on
Jesus that house looks like it should be red tagged as in imminent danger of collapse. Can’t believe the council wouldn’t be out immediately to address it
bilball21 on
Im so sorry this happened to you guys, I can’t imagine the stress.
Does home insurance cover this kind of damage?
Are there numerous other home that are at risk of the same thing?
The_Glorious_Mullet on
Read this yesterday in the Irish Times I think. Absolute nightmare to be dealing with. Hope the Council step up and help out the young couple.
SpectorCorp on
Just wanna say OP, I admire how steady you seem in your posts given this crazy disaster. I think my sanity would have checked out. I really hope whoever you have to deal with extracts their head from their hole and understands the urgency of the situation.
KeyboardWarrior90210 on
So sorry OP – absolute nightmare of a situation. Hope you get some relief from insurance or council on this
The3rdbaboon on
Did you get an engineer to assess the property before you bought it? Did they say anything about this river?
Sorry this doesn’t help the OP directly. But being able to point out what happened before when a river got blocked might be useful in an argument
HowItsMad3 on
Really sorry to see that this has happened to you both. Hoping that the council can take ownership of the land and contribute to repairs in the interest of public safety.
Curious to know the history of the house, is that a 2 storey extension to the rear on the river wall? Obviously the conservatory was an extension out to the right.
If it is an extension, it looks like that 2 storey extension either should not have received planning or was built without proper surveying/planning. I wonder if the surveyor could be held accountable.
AmazingUsername2001 on
Looks like the foundations of the house are exposed. There’s a reason insurance companies won’t insure houses built close to rivers and prone to flooding.
It’s surprising this one was built so close to the river, without the builder putting in some underground retaining wall to support and reinforce the foundations. The municipal wall was most likely put in place to control the river, but definitely wasn’t put in place to provide protection to houses built so close to it.
The house foundations should have had its own reinforcement that close. Bad design. Terrible planning. Inevitable outcome.
Blackandorangecats on
You need to get the deeds for the boundary and then a civil engineer.
Who maintains the river – cleaning etc
Go back through plans and see if the river has been moved at any stage, especially by the council to allow for building work.
Something similar happened to people I know years ago but the homeowners had proof that the river was not their land and that they wrote to the council when the river was changed to allow for buildings and the council answered saying it was fine.
Fight tooth and nail, get everything in writing and mention your solicitor/ civil engineer going forward
daheff_irl on
while i have a huge amount of sympathy for these folks….surely somebody shoulda said to them dont buy the house as its too close to the river? from the reports they seem to have bought in 2021. I’d guess their insurance wont cover this either
Alarmed_Station6185 on
Saw this on the news yesterday, awful situation. I hope dcc does the right thing for ye and ye get back into your hone asap
irishemperor on
On the plus side there’s room for a batcave, a batboat and some spelunking now
Bog_warrior on
Before you bought the house, your engineer told you about this risk and you ignored it.
Alcinous21 on
Inchicore was one of the areas we were looking to buy in last year. We actually went to a fairly chaotic viewing on tyrconnell Street. I remember wondering around the area and felt it had alot going for it. We were aware the river previously flooded. The house didnt really have a front/back garden so we bowed out and it eventually sold for €511k.
I cant really offer anything but i feel for you guys. Those photos are shocking
roxykelly on
Ive nothibg to add, I just want to say im really sorry to see what’s happened to your home, OP ❤️
18 commenti
I’m not sure how best way to share this but me and my wife’s home in Inchicore Dublin on Friday night suffered catastrophic damage due to collapse of the Camac River wall.
Additionally, several support beams for the nearby river tunnel/culvert have collapsed. Without urgent action, the tunnel will collapse blocking the river and will flood much of Inchicore and surrounding areas. The tunnel is publicly accessible and there is a risk to life if it were to go while people are walking over it.
We have had multiple structural surveys from 2 different civil engineers since we bought the house in 2021. While subsidence and river undermining had been flagged, at no point have we ever been told that our home was at immediate risk or that urgent action needed to be taken by us.
DCC and OPW were made aware of these issues in 2022/23 but did not act. We’ve been now engaging them since the collapse, flagging the immediate risks however they have again been slow to respond with any action as they are sighting the homeowners as responsible for these river structures.
We are honestly devastated and now facing homeless as we try to figure out if our parents or relatives can house us while we try to focus on repairing our home.
I’ll link the news articles and our social media posts in a comment but me and my wife just want to raise awareness of our situation to hopefully press the DCC into action.
Looks like it’s going to get worse before getting better, if DCC first response is – we need to ascertain ownership of the river walls….
Good luck OP
Jesus that house looks like it should be red tagged as in imminent danger of collapse. Can’t believe the council wouldn’t be out immediately to address it
Im so sorry this happened to you guys, I can’t imagine the stress.
Does home insurance cover this kind of damage?
Are there numerous other home that are at risk of the same thing?
Read this yesterday in the Irish Times I think. Absolute nightmare to be dealing with. Hope the Council step up and help out the young couple.
Just wanna say OP, I admire how steady you seem in your posts given this crazy disaster. I think my sanity would have checked out. I really hope whoever you have to deal with extracts their head from their hole and understands the urgency of the situation.
So sorry OP – absolute nightmare of a situation. Hope you get some relief from insurance or council on this
Did you get an engineer to assess the property before you bought it? Did they say anything about this river?
https://www.rte.ie/archives/2022/1011/455873-floods-in-dublin/
1963 footage of a flood in Kilmainham. In case it helps with a “if you don’t fix this this is what you’ll get argument”
In 1954 Fairview had massive flooding due to the tolka https://youtu.be/MNgt3phAk3s?si=soGYOZYCi4IlUVFI
Sorry this doesn’t help the OP directly. But being able to point out what happened before when a river got blocked might be useful in an argument
Really sorry to see that this has happened to you both. Hoping that the council can take ownership of the land and contribute to repairs in the interest of public safety.
Curious to know the history of the house, is that a 2 storey extension to the rear on the river wall? Obviously the conservatory was an extension out to the right.
If it is an extension, it looks like that 2 storey extension either should not have received planning or was built without proper surveying/planning. I wonder if the surveyor could be held accountable.
Looks like the foundations of the house are exposed. There’s a reason insurance companies won’t insure houses built close to rivers and prone to flooding.
It’s surprising this one was built so close to the river, without the builder putting in some underground retaining wall to support and reinforce the foundations. The municipal wall was most likely put in place to control the river, but definitely wasn’t put in place to provide protection to houses built so close to it.
The house foundations should have had its own reinforcement that close. Bad design. Terrible planning. Inevitable outcome.
You need to get the deeds for the boundary and then a civil engineer.
Who maintains the river – cleaning etc
Go back through plans and see if the river has been moved at any stage, especially by the council to allow for building work.
Something similar happened to people I know years ago but the homeowners had proof that the river was not their land and that they wrote to the council when the river was changed to allow for buildings and the council answered saying it was fine.
Fight tooth and nail, get everything in writing and mention your solicitor/ civil engineer going forward
while i have a huge amount of sympathy for these folks….surely somebody shoulda said to them dont buy the house as its too close to the river? from the reports they seem to have bought in 2021. I’d guess their insurance wont cover this either
Saw this on the news yesterday, awful situation. I hope dcc does the right thing for ye and ye get back into your hone asap
On the plus side there’s room for a batcave, a batboat and some spelunking now
Before you bought the house, your engineer told you about this risk and you ignored it.
Inchicore was one of the areas we were looking to buy in last year. We actually went to a fairly chaotic viewing on tyrconnell Street. I remember wondering around the area and felt it had alot going for it. We were aware the river previously flooded. The house didnt really have a front/back garden so we bowed out and it eventually sold for €511k.
I cant really offer anything but i feel for you guys. Those photos are shocking
Ive nothibg to add, I just want to say im really sorry to see what’s happened to your home, OP ❤️