As orange and yellow weather warnings come into effect, Athlone town centre and its surroundings have experienced localised flooding.
“The Shannon has been high for a number of weeks but the water has stayed consistently in and around the same level,” said Barry Kehoe, Director of Services for Athlone. “There has been some localised flooding but we’re not overly concerned that the river will rise to flood any homes,” he said.
Mr Kehoe said that the Deer Park road on the west side of Athlone town had experienced some minor flooding following last night’s weather, and that there was also flooding south of the town.
He said flooding in this area is an annual occurrence and not much worse than in previous years. “It’s a flood plain and it floods every winter,” he said. “We’re not concerned at this point and time, we’re not expecting the river to rise and flood any further.”
Meanwhile, Iarnród Éireann has reported bus replacement transfers between Longford and Carrick-on-Shannon due to flooding on rail lines. The company reported that “alterations” currently in place are expected to remain throughout the day. The 16:00 service between Connolly and Sligo has also been cancelled.
Met Éireann has reported that heavy showers will spread form the west this evening with wind gusts of between 900 and 100hm/hr.
