KILDARE: Call for drones to help prevent floods

Drones could be used to record flooding incidents in the Clane-Maynooth Municipal District (MD).

That's according to Kildare County Council (KCC), who made the comments in response to a question posed by Independent councillor Pádraig McEvoy at the latest MD meeting on Friday, November 3 last.

He asked KCC the following: "Can the council confirm if it has the resources to use camera drones to record flood events in this municipal district and help prepare for future flood prevention efforts, given the effects of climate change?"

In response, KCC told Cllr McEvoy in its report at the meeting: "The council has a framework in place to procure drone surveys.

"A Data Protection Impact Assessment must be carried out to ensure that this method of data collection is suitable.

"Flood Risk Management are currently carrying out this assessment with the Data Protection Officer."

Independent Cllr Pádraig McEvoy. File pic.

KCC continued: "As part of our Flood Relief Schemes, the contractor/consultant is required to record flood events as they occur and to use these events to continually verify and calibrate the model.

"Schemes are also designed to be adaptable to climate change and where practical this adaptation is included in the scheme construction, for example, foundations of walls built to allow the wall height to be raised at a later date," KCC concluded.

Commenting on the report, Cllr McEvoy said: "The ability to produce this service is welcome."

He also pointed to the recent flooding that has devastated parts of County Cork: "We can see what has happened in Midleton, which was unprecedented.

"I think there is a need for some team to respond to flooding incidents whenever they happen (in the MD).

"We could possibly also look into making a database from it, as a lot of drones have a feature that allows you to 'tag' certain objects."

Cllr McEvoy concluded: "I understand that there will costs involved, but if training could be provided to teach certain people (at KCC) how to operate the drones, that would be welcomed."

Marian Higgins, KCC's Director of Services for Climate, Community, Environment & Water, said that she would also refer the matter to a senior KCC engineer.