Athlone floods

harr

Hi
Hope someone might help or give some advice, we are due to attend a wedding in the Sheraton athlone on New Year's Eve ,traveling from Dublin ..I was hoping to drive as I will be bringing my parents...but I see now they are giving a flood warning for athlone in the coming days...how likely would the flood waters be to reach the Sheraton and would I be better getting the train..rang hotel and they did not seem overly concerned and said I would be OK to drive into the town..
Just looking for some local advice.. Thanks

nice_guy80

harr wrote: »

Hi
Hope someone might help or give some advice, we are due to attend a wedding in the Sheraton athlone on New Year's Eve ,traveling from Dublin ..I was hoping to drive as I will be bringing my parents...but I see now they are giving a flood warning for athlone in the coming days...how likely would the flood waters be to reach the Sheraton and would I be better getting the train..rang hotel and they did not seem overly concerned and said I would be OK to drive into the town..
Just looking for some local advice.. Thanks

Floods won't come near the Sheraton. Or most of the town.
Enjoy your trip.

whyulittle

No chance of the Sheraton flooding. If you got particularly unlucky, the road under one of the railway bridges on the way to the hotel could be flooded, but it's doubtful, and even if it did happen it would just mean you'd need to come in the old Dublin road instead.

harr

Thanks for the replies and advice and let's hope no body gets flooded...:(

flazio

You're probably getting the Sheraton mixed up with the Raddison which is on the riverside but quite high up so usually gets away with high water.

L.Jenkins

I can see the Shannon now, high enough to reach the Sheraton and half the residence of Athlone, floating all the way to Clonmacnoise in time for morning mass. :P

roosterman71

Floods much worse around town today. Wall of bags along behind Seans is breached. Deerpark is under unreal pressure. Lyster street (behind Dean Crowe) is barely passable (up on the path if you wanna try it) and the apartments at Shannon Weir and Bastion Quay are nearly unreachable (Bastion Quay car park is flooded)

The Sheraton is still OK though

harr

roosterman71 wrote: »

Floods much worse around town today. Wall of bags along behind Seans is breached. Deerpark is under unreal pressure. Lyster street (behind Dean Crowe) is barely passable (up on the path if you wanna try it) and the apartments at Shannon Weir and Bastion Quay are nearly unreachable (Bastion Quay car park is flooded)

The Sheraton is still OK though

😱🤔 Hope it's still ok come Thursday...stay safe

Long Gone

roosterman71 wrote: »

Floods much worse around town today. Wall of bags along behind Seans is breached. Deerpark is under unreal pressure. Lyster street (behind Dean Crowe) is barely passable (up on the path if you wanna try it) and the apartments at Shannon Weir and Bastion Quay are nearly unreachable (Bastion Quay car park is flooded)

The Sheraton is still OK though

Lyster Street ? Is St. Paul's school affected ? A lot of people will be in real trouble if the river level rises any higher.... Is the water actually into Seans yet or are they managing to hold it back ?

roosterman71

Long Gone wrote: »

Lyster Street ? Is St. Paul's school affected ? A lot of people will be in real trouble if the river level rises any higher.... Is the water actually into Seans yet or are they managing to hold it back ?

School is ok so far I think. Not sure though. Seans was flying today but the water was just after coming through the bags at the old restaurant (dunno the name, it's closed now, used to be a church or something) around 5

Long Gone

roosterman71 wrote: »

School is ok so far I think. Not sure though. Seans was flying today but the water was just after coming through the bags at the old restaurant (dunno the name, it's closed now, used to be a church or something) around 5

Thanks. I remember when the last really serious flooding happened we were all told it was a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Brian Clowen visited Parnell Square then - Needless to say it appears that nothing has been done since the to protect the lower lying parts of the town. Obviously some of the newer houses that are now affected (on the way out to Mick McQuaid bridge etc) should never have been given planning permission to be built where they are.

That restaurant is called Made In Italy. It is in a former church.

harr

Any updates today, some people saying it's only certain parts of the town, others saying the whole town centre will be underwater by tomorrow or Friday...not much in the media regarding Athlone today.
Thanks

Long Gone

harr wrote: »

Any updates today, some people saying it's only certain parts of the town, others saying the whole town centre will be underwater by tomorrow or Friday...not much in the media regarding Athlone today.
Thanks

There's no chance of the whole town centre being underwater, it's far too high above the river level.

If the flood levels rose a bit above the levels reached in 2009 it would be getting uncomfortably close to the level that would start to threaten the Golden Island Shopping Centre though.

L.Jenkins

Long Gone wrote: »

There's no chance of the whole town centre being underwater, it's far too high above the river level.

If the flood levels rose a bit above the levels reached in 2009 it would be getting uncomfortably close to the level that would start to threaten the Golden Island Shopping Centre though.

How far would it need to rise to reach the Sheraton? 10-15 meters. If that happens, boat and barge sales will soar through the roof. :P

Lenin Skynard

He's dying to get out of going to this wedding. I know the feeling too well.

No chance of the Sheraton flooding though, or any of the roads that connect it.

harr

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

He's dying to get out of going to this wedding. I know the feeling too well.

No chance of the Sheraton flooding though, or any of the roads that connect it.

It's that obvious is it 😏😯, missus rang hotel today so it's all systems go ...now
She wants to get the train 🙄

Saint_Mel

harr wrote:

Any updates today, some people saying it's only certain parts of the town, others saying the whole town centre will be underwater by tomorrow or Friday...not much in the media regarding Athlone today. Thanks

Just the usual affected areas from what I could see yesterday

Long Gone

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Just the usual affected areas from what I could see yesterday

Wolfe Tone Terrace, The Strand, Deerpark Road, Parnell Square, Clonown Road, The Quays, Golden Island, Carrickobrien ?

pawrick

Long Gone wrote: »

Wolfe Tone Terrace, The Strand, Deerpark Road, Parnell Square, Clonown Road, The Quays, Golden Island ?

Yep and I noticed a few more homes in difficulty along the Roscommon road coming out of the town near ganleys this morning who seemed to be escaping until now.

Aldi looks cut off also from the pics I saw on facebook yesterday

roosterman71

Seen cars going down through the floods to Aldi at lunch time. They were being stopped yesterday. The water is higher today so they must have sorted a pump for the area or something. Still water on the road though but it is passable by the looks of it

harr

Made it down , now in seans bar ...river very high but plenty of sand bags keeping it back ...a lot of water about ..any other bar recommendations 😆

L.Jenkins

Came to Sligo for the weekend from Athlone and the water retention in fields around County Roscommon is unreal. Houses along the Roscommon road past Ganleys are looking like they could be badly affected.

moonshadow

Gerty Browns on the way back to the Sheraton ����

Angron

Itzy wrote: »

Came to Sligo for the weekend from Athlone and the water retention in fields around County Roscommon is unreal. Houses along the Roscommon road past Ganleys are looking like they could be badly affected.

Aye, I was going through Roscommon on the way to Galway, much of the county appears to be in bad enough shape.

Long Gone

harr wrote: »

Made it down , now in seans bar ...river very high but plenty of sand bags keeping it back ...a lot of water about ..any other bar recommendations 😆

Flannerys - 13 Sean Costelloe Street ( On the main street through the town near Dunnes ). Not far from The Sheraton..... !

Long Gone

I'm told that the flooding is now at the maximum level that was reached in 2009 and the forecast is that it could rise 10cm more by the end of the weekend......:(

There is no quick fix for this if we are going to continue to get these levels of rainfall over relatively short periods of time..........

Just had a look here http://waterlevel.ie/0000026333/0001/week/
Athlone Weir and it's not looking good at all.

GEO147

I'm headed to the Prince of Wales Hotel tomorrow from Dublin, anything I should be worried about?

Saint_Mel

pawrick wrote:

Aldi looks cut off also from the pics I saw on facebook yesterday

Yeah I was driving in from old Dublin Rs to town around 2pm or so and traffic was crawling. Got down to Golden Island and Carrick O'Brien Rd closed. Gardai were out too, looked like 2 cars may have had a tip

Saint_Mel

Long Gone wrote:

Wolfe Tone Terrace, The Strand, Deerpark Road, Parnell Square, Clonown Road, The Quays, Golden Island, Carrickobrien ?

Hanley's cash and carry looked to have been hit too

Long Gone

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Hanley's cash and carry looked to have been hit too

Hanley's ? ? - Were they actually flooded inside ? - If the water is up to there then it's getting really serious, particularly if the predictions are correct that the water levels could still rise the best part of another 10cm or more.....

Happy New Year to all ! - Let's hope the flooding in Athlone doesn't get much worse....

nhunter100

harr wrote:

Made it down , now in seans bar ...river very high but plenty of sand bags keeping it back ...a lot of water about ..any other bar recommendations 😆

Gerties!

Long Gone

nhunter100 wrote: »

Gerties!

Gerties ? ! Used to be called The Hooker. Joe Brown's before that. Last time I was in there there was some old nutter came in who started singing and generally acting the maggot... He had a great welcome for himself..... I promptly left and haven't returned since !

Mearings

Long Gone wrote: »

Gerties ? ! Used to be called The Hooker. Joe Brown's before that. Last time I was in there there was some old nutter came in who started singing and generally acting the maggot... He had a great welcome for himself..... I promptly left and haven't returned since !

The lateJoe O'Meara ran the pub in the 60s. I celebrated the fiftieth anniversary there. Music was supplied by Pat Doran on bagpipes.

Long Gone

Mearings wrote: »

The lateJoe O'Meara ran the pub in the 60s. I celebrated the fiftieth anniversary there. Music was supplied by Pat Doran on bagpipes.

Good man. Joe O'Meara ? - I thought the pub was called Joe Brown's by the early seventies ? - Was the guy who ran it actually called Joe O'Meara ? Thinking about it (the gargle has dimmed me brain) he might well have been..... It used to sell fishing tackle as well. Surely Pat Doran was playing the Uileann pipes, not the bagpipes ?

Went by the name "The Hooker" for a few years. That was a really stupid name as the pub is in the center of Athlone, not in Galway and not even on the sea....

Is it still run by Mickie Loughman now ? At least it's high up enough that it won't get flooded....

Long Gone

Looks really bad at The Strand now....

http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0101/757125-weather-floods/

roosterman71

I heard over a pint that the water around houses was allowed rise a bit yesterday for when Enda was coming, just so it looked worse than it is. Sounds unbelievable if true

Mearings

roosterman71 wrote: »

I heard over a pint that the water around houses was allowed rise a bit yesterday for when Enda was coming, just so it looked worse than it is. Sounds unbelievable if true

The key words above:I heard over a pint.

Mearings

Long Gone wrote: »

Good man. Joe O'Meara ? - I thought the pub was called Joe Brown's by the early seventies ? - Was the guy who ran it actually called Joe O'Meara ? Thinking about it (the gargle has dimmed me brain) he might well have been..... It used to sell fishing tackle as well. Surely Pat Doran was playing the Uileann pipes, not the bagpipes ?

Went by the name "The Hooker" for a few years. That was a really stupid name as the pub is in the center of Athlone, not in Galway and not even on the sea....

Is it still run by Mickie Loughman now ? At least it's high up enough that it won't get flooded....

http://www.turtlebunbury.com/published/published_books/irish_pubs/irishpubs/contemporary/pub_books_gerties.html

It was definitely bagpipes that Pat Doran played. The pub was only half the size it is now, the sound in that confined space is not something you would forget, even 50 years on.

Long Gone

roosterman71 wrote: »

I heard over a pint that the water around houses was allowed rise a bit yesterday for when Enda was coming, just so it looked worse than it is. Sounds unbelievable if true

There is absolutely no need of (or even possibility of) exaggerating the level that the river has now reached. The water is already well over the weir in Athlone so any change to the Athlone sluices has no effect whatsoever. The only possible intervention is by increasing the flow through the sluices at Parteen Weir (near Ardnacrusha) but any change there takes about six days to have any effect as far upstream as Athlone - And that's assuming that no further rainfall happens in the meantime and the runoff into the river doesn't increase.

roosterman71

Long Gone wrote: »

There is absolutely no need of (or even possibility of) exaggerating the level that the river has now reached. The water is already well over the weir in Athlone so any change to the Athlone sluices has no effect whatsoever. The only possible intervention is by increasing the flow through the sluices at Parteen Weir (near Ardnacrusha) but any change there takes about six days to have any effect as far upstream as Athlone - And that's assuming that no further rainfall happens in the meantime and the runoff into the river doesn't increase.

I meant that the water that is being pumped back out has been allowed rise a bit, let it closer to the houses so it looked worse for Enda. As a previous poster pointed out, it was said over a pint, so may/may not be true.

I've just been looking at the met éireann rainfall radar and it's not good as there has been a band of showers "stalled" over north Roscommon/Longford for several hours and it's still raining.

nice_guy80

Bastion Quay apartments evacuated

Sunny Dayz

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Bastion Quay apartments evacuated

Are those the ones across the river from burgess park?

guylikeme

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Are those the ones across the river from burgess park?

Yes.

Road from GI Shopping to Aldi took on alot of water. Railway bridge on old Galway Road also pretty badly drained. These places could surely easily be sorted?

nice_guy80

Withing the next 10 years two large dykes are going to have to built around the southern edge of the town on both sides of the river, as well as blocking off the canal on the west side

L.Jenkins

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Withing the next 10 years two large dykes are going to have to built around the southern edge of the town on both sides of the river, as well as blocking off the canal on the west side

To be honest, it would be best to do that from the mouth of Lough Ree all the way down beyond Clonown to save either end from flooding.

nice_guy80

The Canal isn't serving any purpose really being fed from the lake anymore.

coylemj

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Withing the next 10 years two large dykes are going to have to built around the southern edge of the town on both sides of the river, as well as blocking off the canal on the west side

Unless you build dykes all the way to Meelick (the next weir on the system), the water will simply flow back up over the flat plains of South Roscommon meaning that Clonown would still get flooded as it does every year. And if you protect one stretch of the river, you'll simply move the floods somewhere else, the water has to go somewhere.

We're talking about a river that's longer than any in Gt. Britain - the size of the river basin means that you get massive volumes of water meandering to the sea through flat countryside, that's the underlying problem. Build dykes all you like but someone is going to get flooded.

The Missus just told me that Aldi at Golden Island has been flooded.

Sunny Dayz

Deleted User wrote: »

The Missus just told me that Aldi at Golden Island has been flooded.

They've had the pumps on the go well before Christmas. I didn't realise they were flooded, I just seen on facebook this morning that someone said they were closed til Thursday but I just assumed it was because they were inaccessible.