No sleep for a week as desperate homeowner piles up 1,500 sandbags
LONGFORD man David Binns has been working around the clock for over a month to keep the Shannon’s waters from entering his home.
Mr Binns, who didn’t sleep for an entire week over Christmas, said there were more than 1,500 sandbags outside his property, all of which were filled by hand with the help of his neighbours.
Speaking from his home in Cloondara, Mr Binns told the Mail: ‘There’s about 24 houses here in Knappoge, it’s two miles long and it runs along the banks of the Shannon.’
‘My house is the worst affected simply because it is on the lowest lying land. Only for the neighbours and the amazing community spirit, we’ve managed to stop the mighty Shannon from destroying the house.’
‘We’ve put a total of just under 100 tons of sand into sandbags and this was all done by hand. There are nearly 1,500 sandbags outside my house.’
Mr Binns said that despite Wednesday night’s heavy rain, water levels have gone down slightly. He said: ‘From the weather reports it does look as though we could be in a safer position by the end of the weekend. But it’s still underneath the house and all around it, it’s in the foundations of the house but not inside it. The floorboards in the house are starting to creak a bit and I don’t know what damage is being done underneath.
‘I was just talking to a neighbour and we were just discussing how when Storm Desmond came along, we were able to defend against it fairly easily at first. But the place was totally sodden and along came Storm Eva and that’s when it really got to us, and straight afterwards we had Frank. It was the combination of all three coming so closely together.’
‘My own family have had to move out of the house to grandparents because it’s not safe for children, but I stayed because I wanted to defend against it and with the help of the brilliant community I wouldn’t be where I am today.’
Mr Binns said: ‘At one stage between Christmas and New Year, every hour through the night I had to get up and make sure the pumps were functioning and that the sandbags hadn’t fallen over. There was a whole week there where I didn’t sleep at all.’