UPDATED: Water turned off in entire Laois town affecting households, businesses and schools

An entire Laois town and possibly surrounding areas are without water, in an unplanned supply interruption, this Tuesday, January 28.

Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water) say that the interruption to Mountmellick's water begun at 8am and will last until 9pm.

It appears to have hit most of the town which has a population of nearly 5,000 people.

They have issued a statement to the public affected.

"A water treatment plant interruption may cause supply disruptions to Mountmellick and surrounding areas in Co. Laois

"Works are scheduled to take place until 9pm on 28 January.

"We recommend that you allow 3-4 hours after the estimated restoration time for your supply to fully return."

Local people are reporting online that their supplies are gone on all parts of the town, including in Harbour Street, Emmett Street, Esker Gate, Cullenbeg, College Avenue, Wolfetone Street, Acragar, up to The Manor. Customers in The Rock 3km from the town have received the same notification but as of 9am, a limited water supply is still available.

St Joseph's Girls NS and Scoil Naomh Padraig are reported to have issued last minute notifications to parents this morning to say they will be closed. The Rock NS is also closing for the day.

However Mountmellick Community School is open and are not affected by the outage, they have confirmed to the Leinster Express / Laois Live .

The Hare's Corner restaurant in the MDA has also closed.

Mountmellick Tidy Towns group have an unconfirmed report on the reason for the water loss.

"While parts of Ireland flooded the pump went in the Reservoir leaving Mountmellick with no water, well except for the Owenass! Pump is now fixed but it will take a few hours to fill back up. While water may be back in areas it will be slow to come back in other places".

An update will follow from Uisce Éireann to confirm how many customers are affected and what is the issue with the Mountmellick water treatment plant.