Council's flooding update from 2.30pm

River Shannon update from Westmeath County Council

2.30pm Wednesday December 9

Shannon levels predicted to reach 2009 level

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 70mm and to date, no houses have been flooded.

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

It should be noted that this represents an increase of 390mm above current levels and would be close to the maximum level recorded in 2009.

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.

A further update will issue after the meeting of the co-ordination committee tomorrow morning.