A new report commissioned by Cork City Council has highlighted the potential catastrophic impact of flooding caused by climate change on the city.
The report by KPMG Future Analytics says the Council will need to proactively plan for and adapt to current and future risks.
The report warns river flooding in Cork City could become ‘very frequent’ and ‘catastrophic’ in the future.
The city has experienced 300 floods since 1841, with the most severe in living memory happening in November 2009 and causing over €100 million in damage.
In it’s prediction for the year 2050, the report says floods that are now considered extreme will become more frequent and that parts of the city that have never been impacted by water may be exposed to flooding.
The impact of river flooding on water quality and water supply in the city in the future is predicted to be ‘major’, while also potentially severely hampering the Council’s ability to respond to any such emergency.
The authors of the report say they have taken a worst-case-scenario approach to their predictions due to uncertainty about the future global climate and how the city will develop over the next 30 years.
