A west Cork farmer whose lands were completely flooded following torrential rain over the weekend has appealed for government support.

Up to 65mm of rain fell in the Bantry area over a 12-hour period on Saturday (October 5).

A Status Orange weather warning for Cork, Kerry and Waterford had been issued in advance by Met Éireann.

Helen O'Sullivan, a suckler and drystock farmer based in the Mealagh valley around four miles from Bantry, told Agriland she has never experienced flooding like it.

"Our whole land was completely flooded, it actually looked like Bantry Bay," she said.

The downpour caused the Mealagh river which runs through the O'Sullivan farm to burst its banks putting the adjoining land under water.

In advance of the poor weather, Helen had moved some cattle from the low-lying land beside the river into sheds while others were put onto higher ground where they are now being fed round bales.

"We will have to put the rest of the cattle in now and feed them inside because we can't even pass down the roads to our land now because of the damage that has been done to the road infrastructure. All our fencing is knocked," she said.

The farmer said that her cattle would normally be able to keep grazing until the middle of November, depending on the weather.

"Things are hard enough with the high input costs, and now facing winter we'll have to end up buying more fodder again this year," she said.

Helen said that over the years there has been a lot of investment put into the farm to protect it from flooding.

"We've put a lot of rock armor in around the river banks, because this river goes through our land.

"My parents before me always put in rock armor in along the river banks, just to stop the flooding from eroding the banks.

"We do all of this out of our own pocket. We're not getting any funding from anywhere. Farming is a business, and I feel the farmers that are affected by flooding should get flood relief," she said.

Helen said that there is "no point" in trying to remedy the damage caused to the farm "because we're going to get more floods and it's going to happen again".

"This is all extra money out of our own pockets, but we've been doing this for years, it's not just now," she said.

"It's very disheartening, you put your heart and soul into it. We'd be very particular here, we'd always have everything pretty right.

"We'd have lovely roadways, they'd nearly be like highways for drawing up bales and for moving cattle and machinery. This was just newly done and was fantastic. Now it's all completely torn apart," the Cork farmer added.

Helen believes that dredging the local river could help to alleviate the flooding issues on the lands.

"We're doing roadways over and over again because of the floods coming out and destroying them. Fencing is done every year. The same fencing will nearly have to be put up every year, and we get nothing for this," Helen said.

Minister of State for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Kieran O'Donnell, visited Bantry town yesterday to see the damage caused to local businesses by the severe flooding.

Helen is now planning to contact the minister to appeal for supports for farmers impacted by flooding.

"The businesses in town, and rightly so, are getting [support] packages, and that's fair enough. But what about us, the farmers? We're getting nothing. This is our business," Helen said.