Residents in Cork fearful of another landslide as homes evacuated

Mon, 24 Feb, 2020 - 18:10

Eoin English

New photographs which show the scale of the damage following the collapse of an old wall between homes on Eason’s Hill and Church Avenue above them on the northside of Cork city. The residents of several homes on Eason’s Hill have been evacuated amid fears of a further landslide.

Residents affected by a wall collapse and landslide in an historic part of Cork city say they are living in constant fear of another landslide.

They pleaded with the authorities to step in and help amid renewed fears for the stability of an earthen cliff-face left exposed by a partial wall collapse near Shandon last week.

Several homes at the base of the cliff on Eason’s Hill have been evacuated.

The effects of the landslide, pictured one week ago.

The same location, pictured after further movements of earth in the last week.

Homeowners living above it on Church Avenue, who lost part of their gardens in the landslide, say they fear losing their homes if more earth gives way.

Carol and Donal Goulding, who have lived on Church Avenue for almost 40 years, said they are fearful that forecasted heavy rainfall over the coming days will make the cliff-face even more unstable.

“It’s like the bottom of our world fell out last week,” said Ms Goulding. “We were evacuated on Thursday night and left back home a day later but we’ve barely slept since, to be honest.

“We would hope that the council would step in to make the cliff safe in the short-term and minimise the risk to several homes, until a long-term solution is found.”

Their neighbour, Jason Bickerstaffe, who has renovated and modernised his grandparents’ former home, also lost part of his back garden and said he fears his home is also at risk.

“Our garden is completely off-limits now,” he said.

I’m genuinely worried for the safety of my family and for our house.

The alarm was raised at around 8.15pm last Thursday after the collapse of a large section of an old retaining wall, possibly up to 200 years old, between the homes on Church Avenue and Eason’s Hill below.

Emergency services rushed to the scene after tonnes of earth and rubble slid from the rear of three gardens on Church Avenue down into the back gardens of homes on Eason’s Hill. Homes on both streets were evacuated.

There are now gaping holes in the affected gardens on Church Avenue, with steep drops down into the homes below.

The Gouldings are liaising with their insurance company and Mr Bickerstaffe said he has contacted an engineer and a solicitor for advice.

“We’ve been told that what’s left of the retaining wall is highly unstable and it runs the length of several more homes,” said Mr Bickerstaffe. “All we are concerned about is what to do next.

“But the scale of this problem is immense. It’s going to be such a massive job to fix it. It’s going to be very complex.

And the thought of how we resolve it, and the cost of doing that, is scary. We are all going to need help to resolve this.

The local authority has said that it has no role in the matter given that the incident occurred on private property, and insisting that it’s a civil issue between the affected property owners.

Local Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said he is liaising with Cork City Council in the hope that a source of funding can be identified to help.

“Something should be done. National funding may be able to be procured as this is a safety concern,” he said.

“People have lovely houses in that part of Cork but they need support. I want something to be done to ensure that the residents are safe in the long-term.”