Rainfall warning for Kerry as Storm Ciarán set to sweep across Ireland

Additional impacts of Storm Ciarán include "poor visibility and dangerous driving conditions", the advisory adds.

Mon, 30 Oct, 2023 - 18:20

David Kent and Mairead Sheehy

Ireland is preparing for more flooding this week as Storm Ciarán is to sweep across the island to start November.

Met Éireann put a weather advisory in place for the entire country on Sunday afternoon, saying that flooding was "likely" due to heavy rain showers which begin on Monday afternoon.

On Monday, parts of Cork closed to flooding, with traffic reduced to one lane at the top of South Terrace. Union Quay in the city is also closed to traffic.

Motorists are advised to proceed with caution.

That includes for Cork, parts of which are still recovering from the flooding caused by Storm Babet earlier this month. In Midleton, an unprecedented 100mm of rain fell in 36 hours during the storm, damaging 250 properties.

Cork City also saw flooding this weekend as super spring tides brought tidal flooding to many city streets amidst the Cork Jazz Festival.

Met Éireann has also issued a status yellow rainfall warning for Co Kerry with "heavy falls" of rain expected. The warning will come into place on Tuesday at 12pm and remains in effect for 24 hours.

The warning highlights that there will be localised flooding, difficult travel conditions and poor visibility.

The forecaster also issued a status yellow rain warning for Louth and Monaghan, with "localised flooding" expected.

The weather warning will come into effect at 5pm on Monday and remain in place until 5am on Tuesday.

Motorists are warned of "poor visibility" and "difficult travel conditions" while the warning is in place.

Meanwhile, the advisory from the national forecaster says that heavy showers and long spells of rain will fall across Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

It reads: "Flooding (is) likely in places, as soils are saturated and river levels are high,"

Later on Wednesday and into Thursday, Storm Ciarán will have the most impact, with heavy rain and strong winds. The heaviest of the rain will be in Munster and Leinster.

Additional impacts of Storm Ciarán include "poor visibility and dangerous driving conditions", the advisory adds.

Met Éireann meteorologist Aoife Kealy said: "Further heavy showers on Monday will add to already high rainfall accumulations. Then, more widespread and potentially heavy rain on Tuesday will lead to a further deterioration in ground conditions and river levels.

"So, there will be an ongoing risk of localised flooding as we move into the new week."

An advisory is one step below a weather warning, and is put in place to "provide early information on potential hazardous weather."

They may also be employed when a sum of weather elements acting together create a "significant hazard."

Elsewhere, the UK Met Office has issued a a number or warnings for Northern Ireland ahead of the stormy conditions making landfall.

An amber (or status orange) rain warning has been issued for Antrim, Armagh and Down. The warning is in place from 9pm on Monday until 9am on Tuesday.

A status yellow rain warning is currently in place for Antrim, Armagh, Down, Tyrone and Derry until midday on Tuesday.

A second yellow warning for the whole of the North is in place from 9pm on Tuesday until 9am on Wednesday.

Midleton residents whose homes were devastated in floods say they feel forgotten