BREAKING: Flood fears as water levels at 2015 highest

The River Shannon is today at its highest level in the Athlone area since the current flooding crisis commenced in the first week of December.
And with Storm Frank expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to the midlands on Tuesday and Wednesday, there are growing fears over potential flooding of homes and properties in the Athlone area over the next few days.
OPW water levels south of Athlone weir were at 3.30pm today at 38.945m above ordinance datum at Poolbeg, just 10.5 centimetres shy of the 39.05m record level reached during the 2009 floods.
With rainfall estimates varying from between 21mm to 35mm between 6pm Tuesday and 6pm Wednesday, water levels are likely to rise again in the coming days.
This afternoon, Westmeath County Council said significant rainfall has been predicted in the Shannon Catchment north of Athlone over the next five days and this is likely to result in a further increase in water levels.
“At this stage, an increase of 9cm is predicted and if reached, this level would be approximately 7cm below the maximum level recorded in 2009,” the council said.
The council said its staff, the Defence Forces, Civil Defence and local volunteers are continuing to work on a round the clock basis to combat these rising water levels.
Westmeath County Council staff topped up the largest petrol and diesel pumps in the town throughout Christma Day and St Stephen’s Day. Meanwhile, the ESB said that flow of water through Parteen Weir remains at 405 cubic metres per second today, up from recent days.The situation will be reviewed again tomorrow but the flow of water is likely to increase in the coming days, given the high levels of forecasted rainfall in the Shannon catchment.