TORRENTIAL rain led to severe flooding in east Cork on Wednesday, with a number of farmers being hit and those with livestock having to act quickly.

Maurice Smiddy, a dairy farmer, who keeps his herd and a few horses at Ballymacoda, Co Cork, had to take action in order to remove his cattle from fields that were flooding along the Womanagh River.

“I’ve low lying land. It’s fairly flooded… It’s not sea water, it’s all rain water – run off from the land,” Smiddy told the Irish Farmers Journal. “I’ve land that’s four feet under water. We had to get stock out of the fields in a hurry. It’s going to make an early winter.”

As well as his cattle, Smiddy keeps a few horses, with one young pony being stuck in the rising water. Thankfully, Smiddy was eventually able to rescue the pony.