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Updated 6.15pm
THE ESB HAS decided not to change the discharge level at the Parteen Weir from its current level, Limerick City and County Council confirmed this evening.
Earlier today the National Emergency Coordination group had said water levels are rising and falling at different rates along the river Shannon. The group – which brings together a number of different State agencies – met again today to assess the flooding situation in the area.
The Office of Public Works says that overall, water levels on the River Shannon’s drainage basin are rising at a slower rate than yesterday.
ESB says the water level in Lough Derg increased marginally in the last 24 hours and the flow of water through Parteen Weir will remain at 440 cubic metres per second for today. In normal conditions about 10 cubic metres per second flows through the weir.
Limerick
This evening the council said the level of water flow is likely to continue to lead to flooding problems to land and property in Montpelier, Castleconnel, Annacotty, Mountshannon and at the University of Limerick.
A number of roads are closed due to water levels and motorists are advised to drive with caution.
The Corbally area of Limerick city was heavily flooded last night. It’s understood that 14 houses and a number of cars were flooded.
Council staff, assisted by the Defence Forces, the fire service and the Civil Defence are continuing to distribute sandbags to residents.
Fifty homes were evacuated over the weekend and 220 members of the Defence Forces were deployed to assist affected areas.
There are warnings of further flooding in the coming week, as rainy conditions are set to continue for the next few days.
Met Eireann says the south and south-west regions are forecast to get the heaviest rainfall but there are currently no national weather warnings in place.
Flooding advice is available on www.flooding.ie.
Originally published 7:30am.
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Could anyone explain to me why the ESB could not have released water from the Shannon in a controlled way prior too storm Desmond arrival it was well known in advance of what was coming. I would contend the ESB was negelent in their operation, but don’t hold your breath accountability is not in the vocabulary of local government, the permanent government, or state agencies.
@ Tony, I’ve been asking the very same question over the last week or so. I haven’t heard an explanation that makes sense to me yet, a few people saying well they can only release it when it arrives in Lough Derg. I don’t accept this as I believe that they have control of levels all the way from Lough Allen down and can release water at a number of locations.
Although this is old, its still valid information. http://iwn.iwai.ie/v29i3/waterlevel.PDF
Avoiding the technicalities, they cannot pre-emptively release the water.
You can only release Water WHEN IT ARRIVES! You can’t preempt it…
Reehab you can MAKE IT ARRIVE by dropping the levels further up, in particular Lough Allen.
It seems the corbally flooding two nights ago was down mainly to a Lough Gate not being opened earlier to let of water in a canal not specifically because of the Shannon????
And the multiplicity of QUANGOs, Limerick County Council to Waterways Ireland, dealing with the flooding are on radio this morning in the blame game.
The well established Irish tradition of passing the buck, a bit like musical chairs. One of the big reasons we are seeing an increase of flooding is not an increase of rain, but a decrease in the levels of drainage maintenance. dredging, bank maintenance etc. Combine that with the amount of dwellings that were built on flood plains and a problem you shall have. Very detailed surveys that were undertaken over the last 150 years clearly outline flood prone areas. Those maps are available for all to see on the OSI website. A colossal amount of building has been allowed on flood plains over the last 20 years. Those who approved such madness need to be held to account .
Parked right at that scene in the pic on the way to the Munster match.. Father’s car got wrote off because of the flooding, some warning would’ve been nice, signs, anything.. Cheers Limerick CC
Don’t rule out bored teenagers messing with the canal lock, as happened in Athy recently.
We spoke with an ESB employee at the scene Neal, he informed us that the canal gate was opened to release the flow.. That’s why I’m peeved about the lack of warning/signage
They’re always up to that down at golden bridge aswell .
Sorry to hear that Barry I was actually down to shoot the match before I did the flooding pics
Ireland has over 30 local councils when maybe 5 could serve the whole country.
Alan Kelly could have prevented this,but secret meetings without minutes kept him too busy,these people are not important to this government.
yes he should have done more to stop storm desmond. the absolute cheek of the government for allowing weather to happen, have they any shame at all?
It’s Ireland we have storms every year.. The stupid government can prepare for it!!!
Typically, we plan for the thirty year flood. However, in recent years the average rainfall has been increasing along with increased paved areas due to developments which means that water that would naturally drain into the land has to go somewhere.
There is no quick fix. It can take years for the initial consultation, environmental impact accessments right up to the tender. You cannot build all these things at once either, they need to be completed in stages as they can have unforeseen impacts.
Will someone answer hartigan
This question was covered on the Marian finucane news panel segment yesterday on RTE radio
So Lynda O’Dea what was their excuse ?
Hi Tony. You’d need to listen to the podcast but it was something along the lines of met eireann only able to correctly forecast 3/4 days in advance and that the ESB would need forecasts a lot longer in advance than that. Seemingly it’s a lot more complicated than we think etc etc. Apologies but I’m not good at regurgitating info like this especially when I dont fully understand it
Pity billions in debt repayments due to bailed out banks couldn’t be used. I’m sure that all that money could have built defences that even the Dutch could have been proud of. No, instead we blame each other like tweedledum and tweedledee instead of looking at the bigger picture.
Hang on tight… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMa3bSuAPzs
Why would we have to pay for our water when we cant even defend ourselves against it
Fliuch that !
If this government was in any way interested in the welfare of the people, this would not of happened. Attending too many corrupt meetings with no minutes seems to be this governments best work.
have your say