The trauma and heartbreak of having flood water in your home was experienced by a large number of families in the Athlone area over the last week.
Flood levels rose to unprecedented levels and subsequently water entered a large amount of houses along the Shannon basin.
A large quantity of houses in the Athlone and surrounding areas has been totally destroyed, said Cllr. Frankie Keena. It is so sad to witness the devastation. Peoples homes and personal belongings have been destroyed and it is so important that every help is afforded to people to assist them get their lives back to normal, he added.
I am sure like myself that everyone has a traumatic story to tell and the memory of people standing in water up to their knees in their homes will stay with me for a long time, he said.
The affected people experienced a range of emotions over the past week from shock, disbelief, to crying and in turn to anger. They are entitled to be angry as their home has been destroyed and it could easily happen again if some plan is not put in place.
When the water recedes there is going to be a need to put a massive clean up operation into place to help those affected.
I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Local Authority staff, the Defence Forces, Gardai, HSE staff, Fire Brigade and Civil Defence for all their constant help. The goodwill and generosity of all the voluntary people who gave their time and help to look after their neighbours is really appreciated. Also the response from the public to the flood relief appeal has been fantastic.
We have to learn from this terrible experience to try and curtail this type of devastation from happening again. On a local level it is important to put Athlone on high flood alert from November to March.
We should have a stockpile of sandbags put in storage over the summer months that can be easily deployed throughout the town, said Cllr. Keena. Warning markers should be placed along the Shannon banks pinpointing the water levels and thereby indicating when the deployment of the sandbags should start.
On a National level the ultimate solution to this problem is in the hands of the Government who under legislation enacted back in 1929 gave the ESB the authority to control the level of the water at the Parteen Weir near Lough Derg to power their generating station.
When built, Ardnacrusha had the capacity to supply power for the entire country. Currently, it accounts for around 2-3% of the ESB's overall power output to the National Grid. So given the small amount of power output at the plant, there is a substantial case for increasing water flow to the natural channel at the Parteen Weir.
The Government now needs to bring in new legislation to direct the ESB to keep the water levels in Lough Derg at Summer water levels. If this were in place it would definitely alleviate flooding in Athlone and surrounding areas, concluded Cllr. Keena.
