Minister for the Enivronment John Gormley tonight vowed to fast-track a €30 million flood relief scheme in Carlow as a massive clean-up operation continued across the country.
As five foot of water which submerged parts of the town centre began to reside, Mr Gormley promised the tightening of government spending would not impact on the project.
During a visit to the town Mr Gormley maintained he would honour a commitment to fund the massive defence and drainage project.
But householders in the area remained on flood alert over fears heavy rains upstream could force the River Barrow to burst its banks a second time.
The flood relief scheme — which will include the upgrading of storm drains — has been designed and approved and is awaiting to go out to tender.
"It is important now that we proceed as quickly as possible with these flood relief measures," said Minister Gormley.
Rainfall so far today has not been significant, but there is potential for some heavy showers in parts later, according to Met Éireann.
Meteorologist David Rogers said this afternoon that rainfall amounts at stations in most parts of the country were small during the day but he added that it was still a case of “wait and see”.
And despite heavy flooding in parts of the country yesterday, including Carlow town, it was actually a “relatively dry day”, Mr Rogers said.
“A band of light rain did move up from the south west during the afternoon and evening, but overall amounts were quite small.”
A heavier band of rain moved through from the west last night in association with a band of low pressure, which is currently moving across the south of the country. Bands of rain associated with that will slowly move away later tonight and tomorrow.
“Although there is rain in a lot of the country today, there are gaps in it and it’s not totally heavy – most is only light rain,” Mr Rogers said.
The national forecaster is predicting sunny spells and scattered showers tomorrow, with highest temperatures of 17 to 20 degrees, with fresh and gusty westerly winds.
Apart from isolated showers, tomorrow night will be cool and mostly dry with light winds. Wednesday will be bright with some sunny breaks, said Met Éireann. There will be some good dry spells but occasional heavy showers, with longer spells of rain in the south of the country.
Meanwhile, counties throughout Ireland today continued a clean-up operation following weekend flooding and some are on standby for the potential effects of heavy rain due tonight.
In Offaly, there was serious flooding at the Whitehall estate in Tullamore. Homes were not flooded, but a number of residents had to leave the area.
Civil Defence personnel and fire fighters were pumping water from the roads, senior engineer David Hogan said.
A number of businesses and homes in Portarlington, on the Offaly-Laois border, were also affected by flooding today, he added.
“It’s been a very difficult few days. The staff have been working constantly over the weekend and we are expecting a lot of rainfall this evening. If we can get by this evening, we should see an improvement. I’ve just looked at a number of bridges and you can see that water levels have dropped by two or three inches over the morning.”
Paul Daly, senior engineer with Waterford County Council, said there was a lot of road surface damage, particularly around the Tramore area, following heavy rainfall on Saturday.
“It’s currently under repair but we are patching and we will have to go back and do a proper job. We’ve one section of road that has subsided in the Kilmeaden area and that road is closed."
An area on the coast at Ballydwane was also closed to the public after cliffs and the roadway partially subsided, Mr Daly said. He said signs were in place warning the public of the dangerous state of the road.
In Laois, some roads that had been closed over the weekend due to flooding had mostly reopened today.
Senior engineer Michael O’Hora said there had been high river levels on the Barrow in Portarlington and one or two streets were flooded. However, no property was under threat, he said.
“We have had one bridge parapet demolished by a surge in the south east near Killeshin and one or two roads very badly damaged as a result of water damage.” The road will be closed for temporary repairs.
The regional road between Ballyfin and Mountmellick was reopened this morning after it closed due to flooding at the weekend. “Most roads are open now apart from one or two small streets in Portarlington," said Mr O'Hora.
Additional reporting: PA