Storm Ciarán: Two weather warnings in effect with third to kick in on Wednesday evening

Cork County council has issued a statement, alerting those in the area that crews are on standby to deal with flooding in several known risk locations across the county

Wed, 01 Nov, 2023 - 07:34

David Kent and Mairead Sheehy

Two of the three weather warnings issued by Met Éireann ahead of Storm Ciarán are now in place.

The third tropical storm of the season (after Storm Agnes and Storm Babet) is set to hit Ireland from Wednesday, with nine counties in total being put under status yellow warnings by the national forecaster.

Rainfall associated with Storm Ciarán will hit on Wednesday and Met Éireann said it is likely that the heaviest rain will be in southern and eastern coastal counties.

A status yellow wind warning for Clare, Kerry, and Galway came into effect at 5am and is in place until 11am on Wednesday morning, with Met Éireann warning of "strong and very gusty westerly winds, accompanied by squally showers" that could cause wave overlapping and "difficult" travel conditions.

On top of that, Kerry remains under the status yellow rain warning since midday on Tuesday, which will see "localised flooding, difficult travel conditions and poor visibility". The warning is in place until midday on Wednesday.

Cork and Waterford are among six counties under a rain warning from 7pm on Wednesday through to 7am on Thursday.

Cork County council has issued a statement, alerting those in the area that crews are on standby to deal with flooding in several known risk locations across the county.

Sandbags and pumping arrangements will also be in place in these locations.

"Members of the public are advised to stay high, stay dry and stay back from the coast, rivers and lakes.  With strong gusts and high waves predicted, people are urged to refrain from visiting coastal areas," the statement read.

The warning, which also affects Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Wicklow, states: "Further rainfall associated with Storm Ciarán, combined with saturated ground conditions and high river levels, may lead to flooding."

Status Yellow - Rain warning for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow Cork Waterford

Further rainfall associated with Storm Ciarán, combined with saturated ground conditions & high river levels may lead to flooding

Valid: 19:00 Wednesday 01/11/2023 to 07:00 Thursday 02/11/2023 pic.twitter.com/T4QPjioFlM
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 31, 2023

Met Éireann meteorologist Aoife Kealy said: "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."

On Monday, parts of Cork closed to flooding, after a weekend which saw strong tides sweep through city streets amidst the Cork Jazz festival.

Elsewhere, families in Co Wexford had to be evacuated from homes on Tuesday after 3ft of flooding impacted an estate in Rosslare.

The UK Met Office has also issued alerts for the entirety of Northern Ireland after heavy floods on Tuesday.

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