Council to hire experts to help prevent future floods

Kildare Co Council is hiring experts to check if a long-term planning blueprint for the county will cause major flooding.

In 2009, more than 100 people had to be evacuated from 40 properties in the Waterways Estate in Sallins after their homes and cars were submerged in several feet of water.

The Council and other agencies such as the OPW and Irish Rail later spent €10m on on a major upgrade of the local drainage system.

The local authority now wants to hire experts to carry out a strategic flood risk assessment of the County Development Plan from 2017 to 2023.

The deadline for interested firm to express an interest in the tender is September 14.

The Waterways estate was flooded on November 27, 2009 to so-called 'monster rain' in which torrential downpours fell in a short space of time.