Access to the river bank at Market Square has been closed by Kildare County Council because of the strength of the water flow,
writes Brian Byrne.
Council workmen put barriers in place yesterday as the expanded discharge from Poulaphuca Dam was continued by the ESB to manage the excessive inflow of water to the reservoir.
The current is so strong that anyone slipping in would be immediately in very serious difficulties.
The pathway under the bridge is also now under water.
The water has been at 'banksfull' level since last week, and has risen slightly further over the last two days, as the latest picture of the pergola on Camphill shows, and this reflects an increase yesterday in discharge from 40 cubic metres/second to 45 cumecs. The normal discharge is around 32 cumecs, and then only at specific times. But overall the river here is coping.
Bank of Ireland reports that there has been some ingress of water to its basement, and this is probably because the outflow drain into the river may be at or below the water level.
But the big flooding story in Kilcullen again is that there's NO flooding, illustrating again how fortunate mid-river communities are to have
the controlling influence of Poulaphuca.
