We knew we were gripped in the storm of generation as it happened – but now a research team at the University of Galway has revealed how close we came to utter devastation as Storm Éowyn did its worst all along the west coast.

As it was, they confirmed what was evident from the impact – Storm Éowyn generated the highest storm surges ever recorded at key locations on Ireland’s western seaboard.

The researchers highlighted data from three coastal locations during Storm Éowyn – Galway Port, Limerick Docks and Shannon Airport.

That revealed that, at Galway Port, the storm surge peaked at 2.60 metres above the normal predicted astronomical tide, the highest ever recorded at this station since its operation began in 2007

The highest surge along the western coastline was recorded at Limerick Docks – reaching 2.99 metres above tidal level – and at Shannon Airport, the tidal gauge recorded surge of 2.70 metres.

Had these surges occurred a week earlier during the high-water spring tide, the water levels would have been much higher – with data predicting that the water level at Galway Port would have reached 4.96m, Limerick Dock at 5.85m, and Shannon Airport at 5.43m above average sea level – inundating the areas.

Dr Niall Madden, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at University of Galway, concurred, that, in spite of how devastating Storm Éowyn was, ‘in an odd way, we were incredibly lucky’.

“The worst of the storm surge coincided with a low and ebbing tide.

“Had it hit just a few hours earlier, on a full or flooding tide, Galway could have been dealing with a double disaster of record high winds and record high flooding,” he said.

The team, based at the University’s School of Engineering, analysed sea level information from 47 datasets provided by the Irish National Tide Gauge Network and the Office of Public Works.

That underlined the unprecedented power of the storm’s surge – more than 2.5 metres above the normal predicted tidal water level.

Storm Éowyn, one of the most powerful storms to hit Ireland in recent years, also saw record-breaking winds. The highest gust recorded was 184 km/h, with the highest 10-minute wind speed reaching 142 km/h at Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station in County Galway.

The only positive outcome was that – despite the severity of Storm Éowyn in other ways and the devastation wrought by hurricane force winds and lasting damage to power and water supplies – the timing of the tides during storm landfall meant little to no flooding impacts.

“The data we have recovered from the hours around Storm Éowyn shows just how narrowly tens of thousands of people avoided tidal inundation and threats to cities, towns and coastal communities said Dr Indiana Olbert, School of Engineering at University of Galway’s College of Science and Engineering.

“It is hard to imagine how narrowly we avoided unprecedented storm surge flooding and an inundation, in particular in towns and cities,” she added.

Overall, their extensive research suggests that flooding has increased in frequency and severity in recent decades around the world and this is attributed to climate change.

“Our analysis of the drivers of flooding in Ireland show that the anthropogenic climate change – that’s the changes related to human activity – will drive more extreme rainfall and generate more intense flooding,” said Dr Olbert.

Pictured: The University of Galway storm surge research team Dr Niall Madden, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Dr Indiana Olbert, School of Engineering, and Alexander Shchepetkin, School of Engineering at the docks in Port of Galway

“Such changes are likely to continue with further warming. In future we will witness more extreme weather events that will result in devastating floods.

“Our analysis also shows that a rise in mean sea level rise will significantly increase the risk of coastal flooding in the future.

Pictured: The University of Galway storm surge research team Dr Niall Madden, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Dr Indiana Olbert, School of Engineering, and Alexander Shchepetkin, School of Engineering at the docks in Port of Galway