Skryne men caught up in dramatic 'whirlpool-type" floods at Rathfeigh

A SKRYNE father and son had a lucky escape last week when their Toyota Hiace van was swept down an overflowing river in Rathfeigh at the height of the torrential rains on Wednesday evening last week. They were travelling from Skryne to the N2 Ashbourne-Slane road when they got caught up in a 'whirlpool-type' flood at Rathfeigh. What was normally a stream running into the River Hurley had burst its banks at the Borrowaddy Bridge and was flowing down the road. The elderly man and his son were travelling in a Toyota Hiace van been driven by the younger of the two. They reversed into a gateway while attempting to escape the flooding which had built up on the road, and found that the ground beneath them had already been washed away by the stream which had developed into a flowing river. As the front of their van was submerged deeper, the two men climbed into the back in an attempt to escape from the waters, and passers-by thought that they had already escaped from the van. However, resident Eamonn Kelly realised they were still in the van when he heard banging, and with the help of local farmer John McManus, who was passing by on a tractor, attempted to rescue the men. The van got caught in the side of a bank and was light enough to be held in the water while Mr Kelly used a bar from Mr McManus"s tractor to break the back window and help the two men escape from the van. 'It was just by chance I heard the banging,' Mr Kelly says. 'After that, the van was carried another 20 yards into a pool farther down.' The two men had been attempting to reach family members by phone but the flooding at Rathfeigh Cross meant that they couldn"t get through either. Mr Kelly brought the traumatised men into his house to recover from their experience while they awaited family to arrive.