Violent storms lash countries across the globe

TYPHOONS in Japan, violent storms in France, hurricane aftermath in the USA, torrential downpours in Ireland - yesterday’s weather extremes drew obvious comparisons to The Day After Tomorrow blockbuster movie based on a worst-case global warming scenario.

The south of the country received the heaviest rainfall yesterday evening resulting in widespread flooding.

The worst of the coming weather is likely to hit Ireland on Sunday as Hurricane Charley, which caused widespread destruction in Florida last weekend and the loss of 20 lives, crosses the Atlantic Ocean.

The south wasn’t the only part of the country to suffer heavy rainfall. Over an inch of rain fell in Dublin early yesterday morning affecting DART services.

In France, rescuers searched for four people who disappeared in the southern regions of Languedoc and Roussillon after the storms struck. Two people were killed on a beach.

A savage winter storm battered central New Zealand yesterday. Wellington’s airport and passenger ferry services were closed down by the gale-force winds and pounding seas.

Heavy rain ahead of an approaching typhoon lashed southern Japan yesterday, killing four people and causing landslides and blackouts. Two people were missing.

In Florida, residents are falling ill by eating rotting food and contaminated water in the wake of Hurricane Charley.

For Ireland, the knock-on of the hurricane will be nowhere near as destructive as its variant-spelling predecessor, Hurricane Charlie, which lashed Ireland in 1986 in one of the worst storms in living memory.

“Rain more than strong winds will be a feature of this one as it will have lost much of its force by the time it reaches our coast,” said Met Éireann spokesperson Pat Clarke. The weather system which moved in from the south-east yesterday hit Dublin where DART services were affected by localised flooding. Over an inch of rain fell in the capital early yesterday morning. The same front is due to return over most of country today as it moves southwards bringing further wet weather to all regions.

Passengers travelling between Dun Laoghaire and Greystones on the DART experienced some delays during the peak morning time period yesterday.

Heavy showers and drainage problems led to the cancellation of DART services for almost half an hour after the train station in Dalkey was flooded under several inches of water.

Serious flooding was also reported on both sides of the N7 dual carriageway near Johnstown, Co Kildare and at the junction of the M50 and the Dublin-Galway road. Weather forecasters predict Ireland will enjoy a brief respite from the bad weather tomorrow and early Saturday with long bright, sunny spells before the return of heavy rainfall later on Saturday evening.

Met Éireann has also issued farmers with a 48-hour alert warning yesterday on the risk of potato blight due to the mixture of high humidity and moisture.