Flooding has ESB in constant contact with local authorities in Limerick and Clare
The ESB has said it is in constant contact with the local authorities in Counties Limerick and Clare to try and deal with flooding along the River Shannon.
The army has been called in to help some communities there whose homes are under threat.
Springfield in Clonlara is among the worse affected - water levels rose dramatically yesterday and further heavy rain is forecast today.
ESB Engineering Manager Tom Browne has said they have to allow water through at Parteen Weir, but they are liasing with authorities: “What’s happening at the moment in Parteen Weir is we are discharging 375 cubic metres per second, down to the Weir.
“It’s at the same rate as we were discharging yesterday.
“It’s obviously under continuing review, we are expecting that we will have to increase it again. We are in regular communication with the local authorities.”
Up to 35 milimetres of rain is forecast for counties Clare, Kerry, Donegal and Connacht.
And a status yellow wind warning is in effect for the whole country - with gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour expected.
Evelyn Cusack of Met Eireann has said this current spate of bad weather is not new: “We had three really bad summers in 2009, there were three consecutive, exceptionally wet summers, you would think it has to balance out, but it doesn’t.”
