ESB will not increase water levels through Parteen Weir today

The ESB says it will not increase the amount of water flowing through the Parteen Weir on the River Shannon today.

It is as more heavy rain is forecast for the area.

The army has been called in to help some communities there whose homes are under threat.

In a statement, the ESB has said it will continue to monitor the levels in Lough Derg and with more bad weather on the way, the level of water flowing down the river may increase in the coming days.

ESB Engineering Manager Tom Browne has said the Shannon has a very low gradient and that causes problems: “It drains a huge section of the country, it has about 10,000 square kilometres of catchment area.

“Effectively all the rain that falls in that area is drained by the Shannon.

“The other thing that is notable about the Shannon is the water moves very very slowly and obviously because the water drains so slowly the water level rises as these very very large volumes of water come in.”