The total cost of the recent flooding crisis in Athlone reached €4.22m, director of services Barry Kehoe told councillors at Monday’s Municipal District Meeting.
A total of €1.22m was spent on defending Athlone from the rising waters of the Shannon between early December, 2015, and the end of February, 2016. This figure was inflated by damage to infrastructure including roads, footpaths, walls, and drains in the town, totalling €3million.
Between November 12, 2015, and January 31, 2016, a total of nine storms hit Ireland causing the level of the Shannon to rise dramatically. Reaching a maximum height of 39.72m on January 5, this was the highest recorded level in history.
From the beginning of December until December 18, the council spent a total of €241,000 on measures designed to reduce the impact of the flooding on Athlone. This figure has already been reimbursed by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.
Between December 18 and 31, a further €303,000 was spent in response to escalating needs. Finally, between December 31 and February 29, 2016, a significant €677,000 in expenditure was incurred. The final two periods of costs are yet to be reimbursed by the Department.
The council sent an application for €3m in funding to the Department of Transport to make repairs to the infrastructure around Athlone in February. The application has been approved, however it has been decided that €1m of the total allocated to Athlone will be used to undertake repairs in Mullingar. Mr Kehoe said the shortfall in funding will be met by the Department in April.
The council is currently in the process of appointing an engineering consultant to carry out a study of roads that were flooded in the Golden Island/Carrickobrien area during the crisis. The proposal is to raise certain roads and repair others to prevent such a scenario from recurring. The study will also deal with the roads in the Muckanagh area that flooded and rendered a number of houses inaccessible for a long period.
Director of services, Barry Kehoe, said a single pump remained running at the beginning of this week, a little more than three months after the crisis began, while some families remain in emergency accommodation due to the damage caused to their homes.
Mr Kehoe was joined by councillors in praising the work of all the agencies and volunteers involved in the flood response, which restricted the number of houses flooded to 10. They praised a “strong community effort” as one of the main reasons the crisis did not escalate to 2009 levels, when 120 houses experienced flooding.
