Heavy rainfall overnight led to considerable flooding in a Dublin apartment complex, causing widespread damage to residents’ cars and leaving occupants trapped in their homes.

Lee, a resident of Marsfield Avenue, Belmaine, described walking through knee-deep water to retrieve his car this morning, only to find it “submerged”. 

 “I could see the antennas, the aerials of the cars, and I couldn’t see the windows,” he told Lunchtime Live. 

“It was absolutely horrible, no words. 

“There are absolutely no words.” 

Despite previous concerns about flooding, Lee said “there were no preventative measures in place”. 

“It happened two weeks ago as well and nothing has been done about it this time,” he explained. 

“The concerns were there and they just haven’t been dealt with properly.”

Flooding in Dublin. Picture by: RollingNews.ie.

The considerable damage to cars and water damage to building lifts has left several residents stranded. 

“I'm going to miss out on a couple of days’ work,” he continued. 

“My daughter's missing out on school, because we cannot leave.. We cannot leave.”  

David, also a resident of Marsfield Avenue, described his experience helping to move cars from the carpark late last night.

“It was very hard,” he said. 

“We were pushing cars up the hill, we were submerged in water up to our waist.

“And then eventually, I got into my apartment about half one, and I went to have a shower and all the water was turned off.”

Like Lee, David said concerns were raised over flooding but no action was taken. 

“This isn’t the first time that we noticed problems with the drainage,” he added, noting the lack of “correct systems in place” to deal with the issue. 

The flooding comes after considerable rainfall in the last two months. 

Despite a brief reprieve this afternoon and evening, Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather told the programme there is a lot of “unsettled weather” yet to come. 

“We've got a sharp cold snap that's only going to last really about 36 hours and then back to wind and rain,” Alan explained. 

“Anywhere that's had a risk of flooding needs to stay on alert because there is going to be more rain.”

Flooding in Dublin. Picture by: RollingNews.ie.

Yesterday Dublin Airport recorded 50mm of rain in thirty hours, equivalent Alan said, to a “month’s rainfall."

The forecast for future rain has left Lee “very concerned,” 

“Especially if the preventive measures aren’t put in place straight away,” he added. 

“As we talked about two weeks ago.

“I’m just hoping that the cars can be retrieved safely and the damage is less.”

David echoed his concerns. 

“Things aren’t in place,” he said. 

“Things should be better, we should be watched, we should be helped. 

“But unfortunately, we’re not - and this has been a long time coming.”

Main image: Flooding in Dublin. Picture by: RollingNews.ie.