Met Eireann warn of stormy conditions as flood clean-up continues

Met Eireann is warning of very stormy conditions with severe gusts of about 130 kilometres and hour.

Parts of the South, West and North West remain badly damaged from severe flooding though the water is receeding is many parts today.

Relief efforts are underway in the worst hit areas - Cork, Ballinasloe in County Galway, Ennis in County Clare and Clonmel in County Tipperary.

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen will chair another meeting of the Government's Emergency Taskforce this afternoon to discuss the response to the flooding.

Met Eireann's Evelyn Cusack said: "Storm force winds will affect all areas and particularly we'd worry about along the west coast with very high waves coming in, so there's an additional worry there of coastal flooding, but everywhere will get the high winds."

Fine Gael has called for an independent inquiry into the flooding which has left tens of thousands of people in Cork without running water.

Residents across much of the city's northside have been told that it will be next weekend at the earliest before supplies can return to normal, prompting a public health crisis as those living in affected areas have no water to flush toilets or wash their hands.

The flooding in Cork early on Friday was caused by what the ESB says was a "forced" release of water from the Inniscara dam on the River Lee.

Fine Gael's Phil Hogan says the circumstances leading up to that event need to be examined:

"Minister Gormley needs to have a serious look at the procedures, the warning systems and at the role of the local authorities, the ESB and how the level of flooding that happened on this occasion was far more than it should have been."