DUBLIN CIVIL DEFENCE (DCD) has sent an all-terrain articulated truck to flooded parts of Longford to help children get to school and others get to work.

The DCD team have also sent volunteers and are working on a 24-hour rota to help transport people around the impassible roads.

The amphibious vehicle is built by Hagguland and came to the Dublin Civil Defence from Sweden a number of years ago.

The vehicle runs on tracks rather than wheels and consists of two separate parts, front and rear. All four tracks are powered and, depending on how it is set up, it can carry up to 17 people.

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“It floats and goes in snow, it does everything, it’s a lot safer for the kids than a tractor going to school,”  DCD’s James McConnell told RTÉ’s Today With Seán O’Rourke this morning.

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McConnell says that they’ll stay “as long as required” but that the DCD volunteers are only part of the 350 volunteers that have been out since the start of the flooding.

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Read: People whose homes have been flooded can defer property tax this year >

Read: Heavy rain forecast across the country for this afternoon and evening >