Shannon levels to remain stable this week

Westmeath County Council are not expecting any further rise in the levels of the Shannon up to the end of this week, but Director of Services, Barry Kehoe, has said they are not expecting “any reduction in water levels either.”

Speaking at a meeting of the Athlone-Moate Municipal District where the council gave a comprehensive update on the flooding situation, Mr. Kehoe said water levels in the Shannon had risen by 31cm, or one foot, over the past week. “The water is now at 39.33cm which is just marginally below the highest level recorded in 2015, which was 39.72cm,” he said.

The meeting heard that 16 mechanical pumps have been deployed on a 24-hour basis in the worst hit areas of Athlone and that they have been operating continuously in an effort to prevent homes being flooded. Council staff have also been on duty around the clock.

“The most onerous task has been the pumping of water away from people's homes,” said Mr. Kehoe, who was keen to stress that the impact on the town from the floods had been “minimal.”

He added that the main impact for householders has been the presence of pumps outside their homes which are operating around the clock. “This has been a great source of worry and stress to householders in areas like Deerpark, where some minor roads have had to be closed, but I am happy to report that no houses have been flooded to date,” he said.

There was general consensus among council officials and elected representatives that the flood defence works which are on-going in Athlone have been very successful in preventing widespread flooding, and a number of tributes were paid to outgoing Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Kevin “Boxer” Moran for the role he played in getting the flood defence project underway.

“Where the flood defences have been permanently completed, they have proved to be very, very successful,” pointed out Athlone Mayor, Cllr Frankie Keena, who expressed the hope that the project would be completed as speedily as possible.

While it was acknowledged that lessons had been learned from the last significant flooding event in Athlone in late 2015, the meeting heard that the latest episode of flooding has had “a very significant impact” in rural areas of Westmeath, with farmers being particularly affected.

See full report on the Athlone-Moate Municipal District meeting in this week's issue of the Westmeath Independent, which comes out on Wednesday.