MIDWEST:AS THE midwest remained on flood alert last night, the ESB said its controlled release of water on the Shannon was vital if a "catastrophic" flow into Limerick was to be averted.
“Unprecedented” rainfall during the month of November had resulted in the highest volume of water on the 256km-long river since records began in 1932, Michael McNicholas, ESB executive director of generation, told The Irish Times.
Since last week the ESB has been “spilling” water from the 35km stretch it controls between Lough Derg and the Limerick border.
However, elevated levels as a result of heavy rainfall last week forced the board to increase discharge levels at Parteen weir by 10 per cent from 2.30pm yesterday.
The board had already informed an inter-agency group, comprising four midwest local authorities and emergency services, of the risk of “localised” flooding, and efforts were made by the local authorities to contact residents in vulnerable areas.
Areas most at risk were identified last night as Shannon Banks, Westbury, Clonlara, O’Briensbridge, Montpelier and Castleconnell in Limerick. The Army had already provided sandbags to 30 homes in Clonlara, and two houses were evacuated there over the weekend.
Water levels in Lough Derg and the Shannon from the lake to Parteen weir are managed by the ESB to generate electricity at Ardnacrusha hydro-electric station.
During floods, sluice gates at Parteen are opened and water is spilled downstream. “Our primary aim at this moment is health and safety,” Mr McNicholas said. “If we don’t do this, the massive build- up in Lough Derg will result in a catastrophic flow of water into Limerick down a 30 to 35km stretch,” he said.
“Lough Derg is filling faster than we can empty it and the nature of the Shannon is such that it is a long, meandering, flat water body which takes weeks to discharge itself,” he said.
“The combination of such heavy rain, together with the fact that extensive development has taken place, much of it on flood plains, means that we are in a situation that we have not had since records began,” he said.
A HSE crisis management team for the midwest was put on alert yesterday as part of the inter-agency response. HSE staff in Clare had already worked through the weekend to assist over 100 people from Ennis who were evacuated to a local hotel. A partial boil water notice for Ennis remains in place.
Limerick city manager Tom Mackey said Limerick had so far escaped the worst of the flooding, but reassured the public that all emergency services remained on standby last night.
“So far the city has been relatively unscathed compared to Cork, Clare or Galway. It’s a mixture of good fortune and planning, and work that we did on some of the areas that used to flood since we had the last major flood in 1999,” said Mr Mackey.
“We have all our emergency services on standby. We have the Civil Defence available, the fire service available to us, and of course all of our in-house staff have been meeting to discuss what actions will be taken in the event of flooding in the city,” he continued.
Mr Mackey said Limerick City Council was in “constant contact” with local authorities and the ESB, which had been monitoring the level of water in the Shannon.