Major pipe burst causes widespread water outages across South Westmeath

The town of Moate and surrounding areas of South Westmeath have left been without water since the early hours of this morning (Friday), due to a significant watermain burst in Moyvore.

The scale of the burst has created a "sinkhole" in the road near the J Grennan & Sons agri supplies business at Curraghboy, Moyvore, according to local councillor Vinny McCormack.

"It's a pretty major burst, and it has damaged the road badly," Cllr McCormack told the Westmeath Independent.

Locals first started noticing water outages at around 6am this morning, with supplies to a large area of South Westmeath affected.

"Moyvore, Ballymore, Moyvoughley, Moate, and parts of Mount Temple - all of those areas would be out at the moment, so there are a lot of households affected," said Cllr McCormack.

"But (Uisce Eireann) are on top of it. A crew should be there by around 11am, and they hope to have it fixed up and water flowing by mid afternoon."

The Uisce Eireann website is currently listing 6pm this evening, Friday, as its estimated time for when the repair works are expected to be completed.

"A traffic management plan will be in place for the duration of these works," stated Uisce Eireann, which added that people were being asked to allow "3-4 hours after the estimated restoration time" for their water supply to fully return.