A major environmental incident in south Longford was averted last week after a fuel truck overturned on a busy regional road between Ballymahon and Lanesboro.
The R392 is due to fully re-open tomorrow after the truck went off the road at Lehery just after 7am on Friday morning with traffic down to a single lane at present. A large quantity of diesel spilled on the road and also into surrounding lands.
A major clean-up operation has been underway for the last number of days, with concerns that some of the diesel may have affected local waterways. Councillor Mark Casey says quick actions by the local authority and emergency services prevented the incident becoming more serious :
There's a drain there which makes the drop even deeper. The problem was that some of the diesel came out and went into the drain. Now lucky enough Longford County Council Environmental services were out they and were able to block the drain and get it cleaned up and without any major spill going down what we would call the Mill River which runs straight into the Shannon.
So thankfully, that has been averted and only due to quick actions of the local fire brigade and the Council that made it safe.
