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Displaying items by tag: Floods

Corrib Head of the River, the rowing event scheduled for Galway on Saturday, has been cancelled because the flow of the river is too strong to safely hold the event. This means that all seven heads which should have been held this year have been cancelled.

 Meanwhile, Rowing Ireland has announced that it will limit access to the National Rowing Centre to high the Olympic training squad, coaches and “essential staff”.

 Rowing Ireland says that no one outside this group will be granted access until April 5th, when the decision will be reviewed.

 Development camps, trials for under-23 and juniors and club and schools activities will not be allowed.

   

Published in Rowing

Rowing clubs along the Shannon have been badly affected by high water levels. Carrick on Shannon and Athlone have both been hit, while Castleconnell is flooded. This came despite pumping. The gym equipment had been moved out and the boats are stored higher up the bank.

This ESB at Ardnacrusha stated: “Due to heavy rainfall in the catchment we will be increasing discharge from Parteen Weir. You are being notified that water is about to be discharged above 325 m3/sec. This will result in flooding of roads, land and may affect property. You are advised to be aware of increased flows in the river as a result of this water discharge. Further increases in discharge may be required. Approx. 400 m3/sec will be discharged.”

Published in Rowing

#Floods - Fears that the Shannon and other rivers have no more capacity to absorb floodwaters are on the increase, as State agencies fighting the tides met in Dublin yesterday.

According to The Irish Times, the National Emergency Co-ordination Group was warned that with more heavy rain due over the next few days, Ireland's rivers have literally reached breaking point as waterlogged lands drain into our inland waterways.

But Environment Minister Phil Hogan said the present situation did not constitute a national emergency, in spite of some of the worst flooding ever experienced in Limerick and Cork over recent days.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in News Update
Tagged under

#Rowing: The Head of the Shannon, set for this Saturday, has fallen to the bad weather. The event, organised by Carrick-on-Shannon Rowing Club, cannot be held because the river is in flood. The weather forecast is for more high winds.

Irish rowing has had no on-the-water competitive events this year so far, as the St Michael’s, Kerry and Sligo heads have already been cancelled, though St Michael’s say they hope to stage their event on February 22nd.

The Dublin Metropolitan Regatta will now take place on May 17th, moving from its slot in June to fill the space left by the cancelled Queen’s University Regatta.

Published in Rowing

Galway Port & Harbour

Galway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city and port is located on the northeast side of the bay. The bay is about 50 kilometres (31 miles) long and from 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) to 30 kilometres (19 miles) in breadth.

The Aran Islands are to the west across the entrance and there are numerous small islands within the bay.

Galway Port FAQs

Galway was founded in the 13th century by the de Burgo family, and became an important seaport with sailing ships bearing wine imports and exports of fish, hides and wool.

Not as old as previously thought. Galway bay was once a series of lagoons, known as Loch Lurgan, plied by people in log canoes. Ancient tree stumps exposed by storms in 2010 have been dated back about 7,500 years.

It is about 660,000 tonnes as it is a tidal port.

Capt Brian Sheridan, who succeeded his late father, Capt Frank Sheridan

The dock gates open approximately two hours before high water and close at high water subject to ship movements on each tide.

The typical ship sizes are in the region of 4,000 to 6,000 tonnes

Turbines for about 14 wind projects have been imported in recent years, but the tonnage of these cargoes is light. A European industry report calculates that each turbine generates €10 million in locally generated revenue during construction and logistics/transport.

Yes, Iceland has selected Galway as European landing location for international telecommunications cables. Farice, a company wholly owned by the Icelandic Government, currently owns and operates two submarine cables linking Iceland to Northern Europe.

It is "very much a live project", Harbourmaster Capt Sheridan says, and the Port of Galway board is "awaiting the outcome of a Bord Pleanála determination", he says.

90% of the scrap steel is exported to Spain with the balance being shipped to Portugal. Since the pandemic, scrap steel is shipped to the Liverpool where it is either transhipped to larger ships bound for China.

It might look like silage, but in fact, its bales domestic and municipal waste, exported to Denmark where the waste is incinerated, and the heat is used in district heating of homes and schools. It is called RDF or Refuse Derived Fuel and has been exported out of Galway since 2013.

The new ferry is arriving at Galway Bay onboard the cargo ship SVENJA. The vessel is currently on passage to Belem, Brazil before making her way across the Atlantic to Galway.

Two Volvo round world races have selected Galway for the prestigious yacht race route. Some 10,000 people welcomed the boats in during its first stopover in 2009, when a festival was marked by stunning weather. It was also selected for the race finish in 2012. The Volvo has changed its name and is now known as the "Ocean Race". Capt Sheridan says that once port expansion and the re-urbanisation of the docklands is complete, the port will welcome the "ocean race, Clipper race, Tall Ships race, Small Ships Regatta and maybe the America's Cup right into the city centre...".

The pandemic was the reason why Seafest did not go ahead in Cork in 2020. Galway will welcome Seafest back after it calls to Waterford and Limerick, thus having been to all the Port cities.

© Afloat 2020