River Shannon flooding update

River Shannon flooding update

Westmeath County Council, Thursday December 10, noon

Water levels in the River Shannon are continuing to rise slowly and are being monitored by Westmeath County Council.

Over the last 24 hours, water levels increased by approximately 80mm and to date, no houses have been flooded.

The council is in receipt of an ESB forecast of river levels for the next four days and it is expected that water levels will reach 39.60mOD by Monday December 14.

It should be noted that this represents an increase of 310mm above current levels and would be close to the maximum level recorded in 2009.

The current flooding in Athlone is having a severe effect on a small portion of the town but the effects are localised and there is no impact on the town at large.

All transport links, streets, car parks and commercial areas are operating normally and will continue to do so.

Westmeath County Council has activated its Flood Emergency Response Plan and a meeting of the interagency Response Committee is held each day at 11am.

At today’s meeting, chaired by Westmeath County Council and attended by representatives of An Garda Síochána, Irish Water, the Defence Forces and the HSE, it was agreed that the agencies would continue to assist people to protect their homes and businesses, to provide transport where this is required and to provide other humanitarian assistance. At the meeting, Irish Water advised that there is no issue with the quality of water supplied through the public system at the present time.

A further update will issue after the meeting of the co-ordination committee on December 11.