Wet and windy bank holiday but sunny spells due

Another October bank holiday weekend comes and goes but the weather remains the same — wet, windy and miserable.

The entire population could have been forgiven for not even bothering to get out of bed yesterday such was the grim weather conditions.

Unfortunately, there were not many parts of the country to escape to for a patch of sunshine. Met Éireann issued a day-long Status Yellow rainfall warning for Dublin, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow, Meath, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary and Waterford until midnight.

Southern parts of Munster and Leinster were braced for rainfall of between 25mm and 45mm, while southern and eastern coasts were hit with strong, southeasterly winds throughout the day.

In Dublin, Dublin City Council closed flood gates at Clontarf, Merrion Gates, Sandymount Strand and along the River Dodder at 4pm as a precautionary measure.

In Galway, the aqua-dam anti-flooding measures are also in place due to the weather. They were also deployed last month to deal with the highest tides seen in Galway City in over 20 years.

Given the weather conditions, motorists travelling on the last day of the bank holiday were advised to slow down and increase their braking distance in the wet weather.

Today will continue dull across the eastern part of the country and in Ulster with some heavy rain at times. However, things will be a little bit better for those in Munster and Connacht where there will be brighter, sunnier spells along with a few showers.

Meanwhile, two people had to be rescued by the RNLI lifeboats at Dun Laoghaire on Sunday night after the boat they were on became snagged on lobster pots in heavy seas some 50 metres from the East Pier.

The incident occurred around 10.30pm when they called for help using a mobile phone. The Irish Coast Guard Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre requested that the RNLI inshore lifeboat (ILB) launch followed by the all-weather lifeboat.

The 20-foot motor launch had become snagged in lobster pots on the Scotsman’s Bay side of the East Pier. The three-man ILB crew transferred the two casualties to the larger lifeboat that brought them to shore where the Coast Guard unit was waiting. Both were unhurt in the incident.

Deputy Launching Authority (DLA) at RNLI Dun Laoghaire, Robert Fowler, said the incident could have easily turned into something more serious given the weather conditions.

“This was a happy ending for what could easily have become a tragedy on a dark and windy night. Our volunteer crew launched within eight minutes of the alert and were with the casualties very quickly in spite of the sea conditions.

“The role of the RNLI is purely life-saving and the close co-operation with our Irish Coast Guard colleagues meant that two people were in safe hands within 20 minutes of their distress call,” Mr Fowler said.