Flooding update from the county council

Westmeath County Council – River Shannon in Athlone Area

Noon, Tuesday December 8

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 100mm.

The council is in receipt of data from the ESB which predicts that water levels will continue to rise for the next four days and may approach the levels recorded in 2009 by Saturday December 12.

This would entail a rise of 450mm above current levels in the Athlone area.

While this increase in river levels will impact severely on a number of areas, 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, the forecast levels were considered and an assessment of available resources was carried out.

It was decided that additional assistance will be required and that a request for assistance would issue to the Defence Forces and that Civil Defence volunteers would be deployed to the affected areas.

It was agreed that the priorities would be to help people to protect their homes, to provide transport and to provide alternative accommodation, if required.

The public are advised to be aware of the current risks associated with the River Shannon and to take whatever precautions you can if you live in a vulnerable area. Further more detailed advice is available on the Council’s website at www.westmeathcoco.ie.

A further update will issue tomorrow Wednesday December 9.