A resident makes his way across a flooded street in Athlone. The houses were built during the Celtic Tiger era, at the very edge of the Shannon Callows – a natural floodplain that fills every winter from the Shannon’s overflow. This year, the water is higher than normal.
A view of the front of the same housing development. Because the water surrounds the development on all sides, the sandbag defences have limited effectiveness. Soldiers from the Western Command, based in Athlone, have been deployed to support the defences as well as patrol the area to ensure no-one is cut-off by the floods.