Photograph: Stephen Collins/CollinsThe past week has shown the importance of having good information on flood risk, sharing it well and acting on it promptly. It has another website, waterlevel.ie , with real-time data on river levels being fed in from a network of hydrometric stations with gauges at key points along each river. You can zoom in on a map, pick a station and get charts showing current water levels and past water levels with indicators showing all-time highs and average flood heights, although some measurements only go back a few years. It’s a useful but crowded system, with notices issued for everything from water supply disruption to roadworks to flood risk. And the flood risk is still based largely on water levels.

Source: The Irish Times February 02, 2026 17:55 UTC