Flood policy for whom?

The death of Celia de Jesus and the urgent need for proper tenant-focused flood policy

by Laure de Tymowski (she/her)

October 2011

On 24th October 2011, Celia de Jesus, the tenant of a basement flat located in Dublin 12, tragically lost her life during a major flood event. At the time of the tragic event and until now, her death has been attributed to the nearby river Poddle bursting its banks and resulting in a large amount of floodwater quickly accumulating at her door. In his report, the Dublin District Coroner of the time argued that Celia de Jesus drowned “as a result of a surge of water and flooding over a short period of time following two days of heavy rain”, reaching a final verdict of “death by misadventure”. A report commissioned by the Office of Public Works on the flood event makes a similar argument, stating that Celia de Jesus was “trapped by flood waters”.[1]

Extensive research into the tragic event, however, found that the official account is far from the truth. At the time of the flood event, Celia de Jesus, an Irish citizen originally from the Philippines and household assistant at a nearby hospice, had been renting her basement flat for a few weeks. The flat was part of a wider house divided into five rental units, mostly occupied by migrant workers. The house owner and landlord of Celia de Jesus had acquired the property in the early 80s. The flood-sensitive location of the property was made very clear to both the property owner and local authority during Hurricane Charley in 1986. During this major flood event, the entire neighbourhood was flooded, and a nearby property owner reports a 73cm water level in their basement.[2]

In the decades that followed, the approach taken to address flood risk in the river Poddle catchment was mostly river engineering. It included diverting the river to make room for residential developments, increasing its underground culverting[3] or even creating additional upstream flood storage capacity in Tymon Park.[4]

In 2009, two years prior to the 2011 flood event, the property in which Celia de Jesus would move in and tragically pass was described as follows in a planning application submitted to Dublin City Council: “The said property, which is in multiple occupancy, is not of a habitable standard”. Despite such a concerning statement, it is unknown whether Dublin City Council ever conducted an inspection of the property. Anyone visiting the property prior to the 2011 flood event would have found that it was unlawfully divided into five rental units,[5] including two at basement level. Indeed, the property owner had never received planning permission to conduct such works. Even more concerning, Celia de Jesus’s flat had only one means of exit: her entrance door. The only small window of the flat, which could have served as an emergency exit, was blocked with metal bars.[6] Literally, she was living in a flood trap!

On the night of the flood event, realising that flood water was quickly accumulating at the door of her basement flat, Celia de Jesus tried to escape but, for unknown reasons, did not manage to open her door. With no other means of escape, she remained trapped in her flat and drowned. In addition to the unlawful dividing and lack of alternative means of escape in a known flood-prone area for one of the two basement units, all five rental units of the property were found to be in breach of various fire and health and safety guidelines during an inspection conducted after the flood event.[7]

In a nutshell, it wasn’t the flood or bad luck that killed Celia de Jesus! What killed her was a breach of planning law, the inability of the local authority to protect tenants from substandard housing conditions, and a housing system that structurally fosters and rewards unfettered greed, no matter how dangerous. In response to the tragic event, a flood scheme was designed for the River Poddle catchment and has been under construction since 2024. Flood defences alone, however, will never succeed in protecting tenants and especially the most marginalised. As with any infrastructure, flood defences are always bound to fail, and when they do, tenants living in substandard accommodation will continue to face the same risks.

January 2026

In January 2026, Storm Chandra severely impacted different counties of Ireland, including Dublin. On Tuesday 27th January 2026, at seven in the morning, a French couple who had been living in Ireland for a year woke up in the basement flat they were renting in Dublin 4 to find it completely flooded.[8] The flood was attributed to the nearby river Dodder bursting its banks during the storm. Within a few hours, flood water had reached the ceiling. “It happened really fast”, the couple told the Irish Independent, “We shut off the electricity because we were scared; it was dangerous”.[9] Luckily, they were able to escape and did not remain trapped in the flat. However, their personal belongings were severely damaged, and, not having any relatives or friends able to accommodate them, they were made homeless in a day and had no choice but to return to France. Their story is a dramatic reminder that tenants losing their homes during flood events receive little help to relocate, but how could such help be provided to them anyway when the housing-for-profit policy of the government has rendered housing options so scarce and unaffordable?

More concerning, though, is the way the basement flat is described in the Irish Independent piece covering the accident: “The property was originally used as a storage area for the above apartments, but was later converted into a dwelling.”[10] A planning application search conducted on 28th April 2026 for the property, however, did not return any results for a planning application that would have been submitted to proceed to such a conversion. The latest granted planning application submitted for the property, dated 2000, confirms that the basement is to fulfil “storage” functions. But even if permission for basement conversion had been granted, how could it have been so for a property located in flood zone B? Risks associated with basement accommodation in flood-prone areas have been known for a long time, at least since 2011! The 2022-2028 Dublin County development plan itself makes explicit reference to it: “It should be noted that for residential buildings within Flood Zone A or B, bedroom accommodation shall not be permitted at basement or ground floor.”

Interestingly, also, a planning application submitted for the adjacent property, proposing to extend its residential capacity and granted in 2018, includes a flood risk assessment stating the following: “The nearest watercourse is the River Dodder, which is located approximately 220m to the east of the subject site. It is noted that flood protection works have been recently completed at Ballsbridge, which are expected to reduce the risk of fluvial flooding at the subject site.” Eight years after such a statement, however, the recent flooding only demonstrates that flood defences do fail, and that when they do, they impact first and foremost the most precariously housed.

October 2026

The 24th of October 2026 will mark the 15th anniversary of the tragic death of Celia de Jesus. It is very much hoped that the forthcoming anniversary will mark a rupture: a rupture from the unthinkable harm inflicted on Celia de Jesus’ relatives for the last fifteen years through producing and sustaining a misleading official account of her death; a rupture from the way our current flood management policy overlooks the perspective and needs of tenants.

At a personal level, we must think of the harm caused to Celia de Jesus’ relatives by producing and sustaining a misleading account of her tragic death. The Dublin District Coroner's report omits several pieces of evidence that point to obvious personal as much as institutional responsibility in the unfolding of the tragic event. Even family testimonies, such as the testimony of her husband and of her son, are completely absent from the report! The “misadventure” verdict can only be reached based on such misleading omissions. And while we cannot talk on behalf of Celia de Jesus’s family or presume anything about how her present and future relatives may wish to deal with the tragic loss, it remains our duty to make the truthful account available. For relatives, access to truth may represent an important way to mourn and move forward. For our communities, it’s about regaining trust in our institutions and positively impacting social justice and social peace.

At a collective level, it is urgent to finally draw lessons from the tragic event to rethink our flood management policy for tenants and other land-marginalised residents. The mainstreamed approach of relying on flood defences and flood insurance does very little for tenants and other land-marginalised residents. When flood defence fails, the most at risk will always be those residents most precariously housed in unsafe and, in many cases, unlawful accommodations. Furthermore, provided they survive the flood event, tenants are also not currently provided with any support to be rehoused when the flood makes them homeless. It is therefore urgent to conceive a tenant-focused flood policy, which can only be achieved through engaging with tenants and through an immediate reversal of the overall housing-for-profit policy of the government. Failing to do so may only lead to more tenants suffering from future flood events, either by losing their homes or their lives.

Laure is a research fellow at Trinity College Dublin. Her main research interest is in the field of social and environmental justice.

Acknowledgement: Huge thanks to all who contributed to the research at the origin of the present piece and to the Rupture Team for all their behind-the-scenes work.

Notes

1. RPS Consulting Engineers (2011), Flooding at Harold’s Cross 24th October 2011.

2. Dublin Corporation (1986a), River Poddle 1986 Flooding Report.

3. Ibid

4. Moore, L. (2001), Tymon Park, South Dublin County Council.

5. Dublin District Coroner (2012), Report on the death of Celia de Jesus.

6. Ibid

7. Ibid

8. O'Mahony, S., Barry, D. (2026), ‘We were scared, it was dangerous’ – French couple left homeless after Dublin apartment flooded during Storm Chandra, Irish Independent.

9. Ibid

10. Ibid