LAST UPDATE | 22 Oct 2023

A STATUS ORANGE rain warning has been issued for three counties from tomorrow morning until Tuesday.

The rain warning will cover Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford and will kick in at 4am tomorrow and last until 4am on Tuesday.

Met Éireann said there will be heavy and persistent rain with thundery downpours possible. There are potential impacts of flooding, dangerous travel conditions and poor visibility.

A separate Status Yellow rain warning has also been issued for counties Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath, Wicklow and Roscommon. This will also come into effect at 4am tomorrow and last for 24 hours.

The warnings will follow a separate Status Yellow rainfall warning for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Galway which came into effect at 6pm today and will last for 24 hours.

According to the latest forecast from Met Éireann, tonight will see persistent rain across Munster, south Connacht and south Leinster, turning heavy at times with localised flooding possible.

Scattered showers will develop elsewhere, with lowest temperatures of three to six degrees over the northern half of the country, but it will be milder further south.

Cork County Council

Cork County Council’s Severe Weather Assessment Team convened today in advance of the Status Yellow rainfall warning coming into effect there.

In a statement released after the meeting, CCC said the most intense rainfall periods “will commence this evening and during the early morning hours (of Monday)”.

“The east Cork area is of greatest concern based on current predictions,” the statement noted.

Midleton in southeast Cork was one of the places worst affected by flooding during Storm Babet last week.

Cork County Council today asked areas which were impacted by the recent flooding “to be conscious of the risk of possible future flooding”.

“Residents in flood prone-areas who have previously been issued with sandbags are advised to take all necessary precautions considering the forecast,” the statement noted.

“Although river levels have dropped over recent days, levels remain elevated. The advice is therefore for people to remain vigilant. Localised heavy downpours are expected, the exact location of which is unknown.

“It should be noted that surface water drainage systems have limited capacity and localised downpours and flash flooding may overwhelm drainage systems even where they have been fully cleared. There is also a likelihood of surface water flooding on already saturated ground conditions.”

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The council said it has been distributing sandbags throughout the county since the severe weather alerts were issued.

More than 7,000 sandbags have been distributed in the Midleton/east Cork area alone to date with the assistance of the Defence Forces.

The council will distribute further sandbags on a priority basis.

Main Street in Carrigaline will close from 9.30pm today until 8am tomorrow, at which point the matter will be reviewed.

The council also advised motorists “to exercise extreme caution as driving conditions may be hazardous, with further surface water flooding expected”.

With reporting by Órla Ryan