Updated 11am

A ‘STATUS RED’ weather alert will remains in place until later this afternoon as winds of up to 150km per hour batter parts of the country.

Motorists are being urged to take care on the roads, and some travel operators have cancelled services.

Schools in counties affected by the ‘red’ warning have been advised not to open.

Flooding and trees down have been reported in a number of areas.

The Weather

The north and west are worst affected by the stormy weather at the moment.

According to Met Éireann, coastal areas in particular are experiencing “some severe damaging gusts of 130 to 150 km/h”.

Elsewhere:

“There will also be heavy showers this morning, of hail and thunder, which will fall as sleet and snow on higher ground and these may lead to spot flooding.

“Parts of the east and southeast will start today drier and less windy, with some frost, but a band of heavy showers will spread southeastwards from the north later this morning and through the afternoon, with strong and gusty winds to follow to all parts.

This morning, winds picked up to red levels in the west and north.

However:

“The strong winds will start to ease off towards the evening.”

The Met Eireann website this morning

The rain did ease off this morning but has come back hard

The code red alert applies to:

• Donegal
• Sligo
• Mayo
• Galway
• Clare
• Limerick
• Cork
• Leitrim

Kerry’s alert was downgraded to orange this morning. 

The rest of the country is under a status orange warning and there is a yellow rain warning in place for:

• Connacht
• Donegal
• Clare
• Cork
• Kerry
• Limerick

Limerick City and County Council said that no significant incidents were reported overnight as a result of Storm Rachel. All the county’s national roads have been gritted and no emergency calls were received, they noted.

Roads

“The roads are a dangerous place,” Met Éireann’s Gerard Fleming said on Morning Ireland today.

“If you can stay indoors… then that would be wise.”

The well-known meteorologist expects the storm to “ease off” in the latter part of this afternoon in some parts, while it will be early evening or tonight in others.

Gardaí are urging care on all routes. Remember — there may be fallen debris in areas where the worst of the winds have passed.

There is flooding reported:

• On the N60 Claremorris to Castlebar Road after the Beaten Paths and before Balla in Mayo.
• Around Ballycastle, particularly on the Killala Road, also in Mayo.
• Between Monasteraden and Ballaghadereen.

There is more spot flooding on the N58 between Ballyvarry and Foxford in Mayo. 

Meanwhile, a number of roads are impacted by fallen debris and trees with Kildare particularly affected.

Rail, Road, Sea and Air

There are delays of about an hour to all Irish Rail services….

But Bus Éireann is running as normal, but with some delays in the northwest.

Irish Ferries have cancelled the majority of their planned journeys today and passengers for tonight’s sailings are advised to continue to check in with the website.

Dublin Airport says it’s “business as usual” this morning but “passengers advised to check flight status with airline before coming to the airport”.

It’s also grand down in Shannon.

Power

There are currently 17,000 ESB Networks customers without power. See more here.

First published 6.40am; additional reporting by Sinéad O’Carroll

As it happened: Code Red as ‘ferocious’ storm hits Ireland