Updated at 7.40pm
WHILE STORM DESMOND is behind us, the country isn’t out of the woods yet.
Flooding is getting worse in certain areas and the outlook is for more bad weather: two ‘yellow alert’ warnings – one for rain, one for wind – will be in effect tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the government has this evening confirmed a fund of €5m to aid small businesses which were unable to secure flood insurance.
Flooding
The ESB said this morning that it will be increasing the flow of water down the River Shannon from its Parteen Weir hydro dam.
The volume is set to be increased from 315 metres cubed per second up to 375 metres cubed per second – which will see a spike in water levels on Lough Derg.
This is likely to see further flooding of roads and homes in Limerick and Clare.
In a joint statement, Clare County Council and Limerick City and County Council have said that floodwaters are likely to increase over the coming days.
The areas likely to affected are Castleconnell, Montpelier and the Mountshannon Road.
The National Emergency Coordination Centre held a media briefing at the Department of Agriculture in Dublin this afternoon on the adverse weather conditions.
The coordination group has been meeting regularly since last Thursday. It said that Met Éireann had flagged that the rainfall event was on its way, and so the members of the group – which includes the OPW and ESB – met and flagged this with local authorities who were able to put the resources in place to deal with the issue.
It said that the Shannon remains the main concern, as water levels have only stabilised in one area – Lough Allen – but not in the rest of the river. It anticipates that the levels on the rest of the Shannon are still rising and will continue to rise for at least four to five days.
A spokesperson from the Department of Social Protection said that they wanted to reassure the public that the government have committed the necessary resources to meet the needs of households and people affected by the severe weather events.
She further elaborated that the fund is both generous and easily accessible so that if people have been affected by flooding they should contact the department as soon as possible.
Department officials in its community welfare service are working on the ground across the country to meet people’s needs. They are also assessing the meeting of the demands of the public, and assisting people with applications for humanitarian assistance.
The coordination group said that in a number of catchments, the situation has improved and is improving “quite dramatically from a flooding perspective”.
However, the biggest catchment is the Shannon, which is continuing to rise, and this means that people in vulnerable areas around the river remain in risk of flooding.
People are encouraged to keep in touch with local authorities and to keep an eye on their neighbours.
Warnings
Two status yellow warnings are now in place.
A nationwide wind warning takes effect from midnight, lasting until 11pm tomorrow night. Gusts of up to 100km per hour can be expected.
Separately a rainfall warning has been issued in Connacht, Donegal, Clare and Kerry. 20 – 35 mm of additional rain is expected.
Cabinet meeting
The government has said it will establish a fund of €5m to aid small businesses which have suffered damage to their property in the current flooding.
It will be administered by the Red Cross.
“I welcome this recognition by government of the impact of the floods on businesses,” defence minister Simon Coveney said.
The impact in the peak Christmas period for businesses is particularly severe.
The fund will go to businesses in towns recognised to be at flood risk by the OPW, and which have been unable to get flood insurance.
More details are expected on how the fund will operate in the coming days.
- Additional reporting by Aoife Barrym, Cianan Brennan and Daragh Brophy.
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