Ice damage to bridge feared

DONEGAL County Council engineers were last night keeping a round the clock watch on a bridge over concerns that it could be damaged by a large ice flow.

Since the thaw began on St Stephen’s night, large chunks of broken ice and debris have been building up at Dreenan Bridge which crosses the River Finn outside the towns of Ballybofey and Stranorlar.

Hundreds of curious passers-by stopped at the bridge yesterday to video and take photos of the glacier-like ice flow under the multi-million euro bridge which was opened four years ago.

Senior council engineer, Vincent Lynn, said he was concerned rising water levels could cause the ice to build up against the deck of the bridge, resulting in structural damage.

“This is another very interesting phenomenon resulting from a rapid thaw... I don’t see any immediate problems as a result of the ice flow, but that could change very quickly, so we have one of our local engineers monitoring the situation.”