Insurance companies are receiving large amounts of calls from farmers about collapsed sheds and dead animals following heavy snowfall in recent days, according to a specialist in loss assessing who has worked in the industry since 1980.
Jim Flannery, brand ambassador with OMC Claims, told the Neil Prendeville show on Cork’s Red FM that the cold spell has had a “significant impact” on the lives of farms in Munster.
“I think over the past 48 hours we have had 30 or 40 instances of damage caused by the weight of snow and we have had one or two livestock cases reported to us for fatal injury to livestock.
"In one case a tree came down on an animal. In another case a farmer who was about to try and get all his animals in to a shed the day before yesterday and couldn’t get them in because of the depth of snow.
"And that evening the roof collapsed on the shed. So he was counting his blessings the animals weren’t in the shed at the time.”
Mr Flannery said that from an insurance point of view, each policy is unique. As a result, he said some farmers might find themselves unable to access money to repair their sheds.
“It is matter of whether storm damage has been selected for cover by farmers," he said.
"And that is for the weight of snow. The last time there was a weight of snow incident was in 2010. The policies did pay out for the collapse of roofs.
"For farmers it has to be specifically selected and for livestock cover it has to be specifically selected so it is important for them to check their policy or to ring the three main carriers in Ireland. Or to check with their broker or to call us. Give us a call and we will do anything we can to help.”
Mr Flannery added tha farmers were in a “terrible” situation and it is a case of carrying on “no matter what.”
Meanwhile, Director of Policy with the IFA, Tadhg Buckley, who farms in Boherbue, Co Cork, said that areas around North Cork, North Kerry and West Limerick were particularly hit by the cold snap.
“We got about 14 inches of snow on Saturday night/Sunday. We got another two inches on Monday and that is all still lying there.
"On the road we live in the only way you can travel is by tractor. It is very challenging and it is probably going to be Saturday or Sunday before we see any improvement. Your main roads are passable but your rural roads are not.
"A lot of people are saying how was this not a red warning? It did meet the threshold for a red warning. Warnings are generally given on a county level but weather patterns don’t obey county bounds.
"We have to look and see how we can better prepare people the next time this is going to happen. There was people on the road on Sunday and I have no doubt they wouldn’t have been on the road if there was a red warning.
"We were travelling on Sunday because we were coming home from abroad. We had to abandon the car and friends of ours brought us back in a jeep.”
Mr Buckley added that farmers were in a “challenging” situation.
“I am aware around here that some sheds have given way due to the weight of the snow. And there is other sheds that are under pressure.
"Where sheds are under pressure the farmer himself has to be careful that they are not putting themselves in danger going in to these sheds.
"The other thing that is a real challenge is if you have difficulties with power and water. If you have those issues you have got to be careful. The one thing to ensure for livestock is that what you are feeding them is as wet as possible. So you feel silage which is wetter.
"It is alarming. To come out in the morning and to see a shed gone. It is a lot to deal with. There is the financial impact but there is also the welfare impact as well. It is going to take a while to recover from this.”
