2008 Kerry bogslide
Encyclopedia
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
occurred in the Maghanknockane area of Lyrecrompane, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
in August and September 2008. The original bogslide extended over four kilometres on 22 August and 23 August destroying an estimated 10 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s (25 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s) of bog
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
, engulfing two bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s and led to the closure of a section of road; it was reported that it could take anything up to six months to fix the road. The plot of land owned by Moss Moore which inspired John B. Keane
John B. Keane
John Brendan Keane was an Irish playwright, novelist and essayist from Listowel, County Kerry.-Life and career:...
’s play The Field
The Field
The Field is a play written by John B. Keane, first performed in 1965. It tells the story of the hardened farmer "Bull" McCabe and his love for the land he rents. The play debuted at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in 1965, with Ray McAnally as "The Bull" and Eamon Keane as "The Bird" O'Donnell. The play...
escaped the disaster by only a couple of kilometres. Comparisons were drawn with the occurrence of an earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
as it was claimed that a 30 metre (100 ft) wide section was missing from the hill. The event was likened to the 2003 Derrybrien landslide
2003 Derrybrien landslide
The 2003 Derrybrien landslide was a landslide which fell on 16 October 2003. The landslide ruined the construction of a 71-turbine wind-farm. It killed around 50,000 fish according to an estimate by Shannon Regional Fisheries Board and dislodged 450,000 cubic metres of peat....
in County Galway
County Galway
County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...
.
A second bogslide occurred on 3 September 2008, blamed on heavy rain overnight which led to a "small slippage" of bog material. The slippage happened between two bridges, Harris and Scanlon, on a tributary of the Smerlagh River and again forced the closure of a local road.
Effects
Kerry County CouncilKerry County Council
Kerry County Council is the local authority which is responsible for County Kerry in Ireland. The Council is responsible for Housing and Community, Roads and Transportation, Urban planning and Development, Amenity and Culture, and Environment. The head of the council has the title of Mayor...
officials spent an entire day creating diversions to stop the flow of peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
from the first bogslide. A dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
was created to direct the bogslide away from the path of a river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
. Up to 30,000 people in north Kerry were left without a water supply
Water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...
due to polluted watercourses and threatened reservoirs. A boil notice was placed on the local water supply. Several homes in a rural area between Tralee and Castleisland
Castleisland
Castleisland is a town and commercial centre in County Kerry in south west Ireland. The town is renowned for the width of its main street. Castleisland has a population of 2,170....
were cut off.
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
and salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
were killed in peat which had travelled over two miles (3 km) and was at a depth of eight to ten feet. Shannon Regional Fisheries Board officer, Lorraine O’Donnell, claimed that it could take "up to a decade" for the river and the spawning grounds to recover. Fisheries officers were unable to access to a tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the river, the Glashoreag. It was completely overwhelmed by the slide. The area was an important nursery
Nursery (horticulture)
A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size. They include retail nurseries which sell to the general public, wholesale nurseries which sell only to businesses such as other nurseries and to commercial gardeners, and private nurseries which supply the needs of...
for salmon and eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
s before the disaster.
Maurice Harrington and his wife Joan would normally have been collecting bags of turf
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
but escaped from the disaster unharmed. Maurice's son, Mossie, first noticed the bog moving the day before. Maurice's other son, Patrick, assumed the bog movement he witnessed was due to poor eyesight. Maurice lost over €1,000 worth of turf
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
in the disaster. Joan and Patrick moved out the next week.
Possible cause
Residents in the area said that machineMachine
A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...
ry on the site of a wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
on nearby Ballincollig Hill might have contributed to the bogslide which was caused by heavy rain. Work had begun on the site two weeks prior to the disaster. Local residents had expressed concern about the possible risk of a landslide
Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
as far back as 2001 when initial planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
was sought by Tralee-based Trá Investments for the windfarm. In July 2004 several people wrote to EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
Commissioner for the Environment, Margot Wallström
Margot Wallström
Margot Elisabeth Wallström is a Swedish social democratic, currently holding the job as . Prior to this post, she served as European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy...
, to voice their concerns about the threat to protected birds of prey
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
should the windfarm development proceed. With their objections overruled, the development was approved by An Bord Pleanála
An Bord Pleanála
An Bord Pleanála is an independent statutory administrative tribunal that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007 The Planning Board directly decides major strategic infrastructural projects under the provisions of the Planning...
in June 2004. Trá Investments is to carry out an independent inquiry into the cause of the disaster.