Water, Water Everywhere

Let's face it ... Ireland's summer wasn't. Occasionally an orange ball was spotted in the sky, but most or the time clouds and rain dominated the notorious Irish weather. With August taking the proverbial bisquit: By mid-month we had four times the rainfall of a normal August. Leading to severe flooding in many places

Belfast took the record in flooding - the new Broadway Underpass containing roughly twenty million gallons of rainwater and qualifying as an olympic diving pool with a depth of 4.5 meters.

But what actually caused the flooding?

Obviously bad weather, but this alone was not enough. Flood prevention in Ireland seems to equate praying that it doesn't rain too much. In a nutshell the Emerald Isle, known for its rainy climate, is not equipped with an infrastructure to cope with rainwater. While places like Los Angeles or Barcelona have storm drains that lie redundant 90% of the time, local councils in Ireland only seem to remember cleaning their small drains once they clog up. By which time the van carrying the personnel and equipment will not be able to reach the access point due to flooding. Add to this the bright idea to build new housing estates in areas prone to flooding and you have a recipe for disaster.

So, what does all this mean for the tourist? Obviously once you have committed to traveling Ireland there is not a lot you can do about the weather and you'll have to play it by ear. But one area worth mentioning is driving - so I put together some advice on "Driving Through Ireland's Rain".

But remember ... anyone not opting for indoor attractions did experience uncluttered sights and views of nature this "summer". Small wonder with 20% less tourists and the rest staying out of the rain. As they say, every monsoon cloud has at least a tiny silver lining.