
A CO-WORKER OF the woman who died yesterday after floodwaters swept into her basement apartment has paid tribute to a “warm and gentle” mother devoted to her son.
Celia de Jesus, 58, lost her life despite the efforts of neighbours who tried to break in to her flat in Crumlin, Dublin as the waters rose.
De Jesus, originally from the Philippines but an Irish citizen, worked at Our Lady’s Hospice in nearby Harold’s Cross. The hospice manager Mo Flynn this morning described her as “gentle and lovely” and said staff were “distraught” at her death.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said Ms de Jesus was “devoted” to her teenage son Michael and had sent money home to the Philippines each week for the ten years she had worked at the hospice. Ms Flynn described her co-worker as:
A warm and gentle person who was quite shy. Many of her colleagues were quite protective of her and would try and advocate for her because she was maybe too shy to raise things herself.
Ms de Jesus’s body was found after the fire brigade pumped water out of the flat early yesterday morning.
Read more: Woman died in flooded Dublin basement as neighbours tried to save her>
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