Filipina nurse dead in Dublin flash flood

MANILA, Philippines—One of the two fatalities reported from a flash flood that struck Ireland’s capital city Dublin on Monday was a Filipino hospice worker, reports reaching the labor and foreign departments in Manila said.

The Filipino fatality was identified as Cecilia de Jesus, who was in her 50s and who lived in a basement flat on Parnell Road in Harold’s Cross, a suburb in the southern part of the city. She worked at Our Lady’s Hospice in Blackrock, County Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, located south of Dublin.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said it was awaiting the Department of Foreign Affair’s confirmation of the tragedy from Philippine Embassy in Dublin.

According to media reports, De Jesus drowned after the Poddle River burst its banks and collapsed a canal in front of the house. Flood waters quickly and completely submerged the basement.

A group of Pakistanis who lived on the top floor, together with responding firemen, tried but failed to rescue De Jesus by smashing through the basement’s ceiling.

“’Help me, help me, help me,’ for maybe 10 minutes she was crying,” De Jesus’ neighbor, who was interviewed by the Irish Independent Daily, said of the victim’s last moments.

De Jesus’ husband, who was vacationing in the Philippines, was set to rejoin her in Ireland by December.

The other fatality, off-duty policeman Ciaran Jones, was washed away by the flood as he helped divert traffic on the bridge.

The flood, caused by heavy rains and the high tide, led to road closures and disruption of rail links. More than 100 families as well as scores of patients from three hospices were evacuated.