The last quarter (October to December) of 1954 was very wet with the east of Ireland getting particularly affected badly. In some parts of Meath, their average rainfall was up to 170% of the average for the period. Dublin Airport recorded 100mm or more in each of the months with a total of 335.1mm for the period. That's almost more than what Glasnevin, Co. Dublin recorded throughout the whole year of 1887 which had 356.6mm at the station. Late November and early December 1954 brought an especially wet and windy spell of weather. There were a number of ships sunk or run aground off the Irish coast. These were described in newspaper reports as "mountainous seas".
Flooding was widespread in many parts before a band of heavy rain moved eastwards late on December 6th, clearing for a while on the 7th before another band of persistent and heavy rain became established in all areas on the 8th. Rain was particularly heavy over eastern counties with more than 80mm falling between the 6th and 8th December. Dublin Airport recorded a daily rainfall of 49.0mm on the 8th, its wettest December day on record to this day.
Early on the 9th, the swollen river Tolka undermined the foundations of the railway bridge across the river at Fairview. The collapsed bridge then formed a barrier across the river causing water to flow out across a very wide area; approximately 1,500 houses accommodating 2,000 families were affected by the flood waters and several hundred people were forced to evacuate their homes. There was extensive flooding elsewhere across the city, particularly in the Kilmainham area along the river Camac whilst the Shannon reached its highest level since 1925 and many thousands of acres of farmland were inundated. There were reports of widespread power outages on the 8th with further disruption caused by heavy falls of snow in parts of the midlands and northwest! Essentially, Dublin was like Venice.
Pictures of the North Strand, Co. Dublin in December 1954 below.
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