WEXFORD COUNTY COUNCIL is turning to the Aqua Dam in a bid to prevent further flooding in the county.
The Aqua Dam is a temporary, water-filled flood barrier designed to control and divert water and has been installed along Wexford Quays ahead of further heavy rainfall overnight and into tomorrow.
From 3am until 3am on Friday morning, Wexford will be one of nine counties under a Status Yellow rain warning.
Met Éireann is warning that further rain falling on already saturated ground, combined with high river levels and high tides, will lead to localised flooding and river flooding.
Waterford and Wicklow meanwhile will come under a Status Orange warning over the same period.
In Waterford, the local authority has confirmed it has erected flood defences in the city and closed quayside car parks in Dungarvan.
Elsewhere, flood barriers have been installed in Dublin on the boardwalk on Ormond Quay Lower at Millennium Bridge.
Flood barriers erected on Ormond Quay Lower at Millennium Bridge. Nicky Ryan / The Journal
Nicky Ryan / The Journal / The Journal
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) today warned that the country is “entering another challenging phase over Thursday and Friday”.
It also “emphasised” that heavy rain in one county can impact on flood-prone areas in another even where less significant rain has fallen due to river flows.
The Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council, Barbara-Anne Murphy, today said the Aqua Dam is intended to “stop low-level flood waters”.
“It’s an inflatable wall, easily put up,” she explained.
Aqau Dam deployed at Wexford Quays Jim Campbell Photography
Jim Campbell Photography
She added: “It’s filled with water itself, so it’s sturdy. We also have a pump in behind it to pump any water back out, or somewhere else, if any gets past the Aqua Dam.”
Murphy said it was brought down to Wexford from Westmeath County Council and that its engineers also came down to Wexford to “show our county council how to use them”.
The Aqau Dam at Wexford Quays Jim Campbell Photography
Jim Campbell Photography
Wexford TD George Lawlor meanwhile remarked that the Aqua Dam is being deployed in anticipation of spring tides and as the result the “rain and the volume of water coming downstream on the Slaney into Wexford Harbour”.
-With additional reporting from Andrew Walsh and Eoghan Dalton
