The National Co-ordination Group for Severe Weather Emergencies has met to assess the current weather forecast and flood threats. The group will meet again shortly to review the situation.
Met Éireann has issued a series of severe weather warnings for the weekend.
Extremely heavy and prolonged rainfall is forecast for West, Mid-West and North West regions on Friday night and all through Saturday. Met Éireann has issued a number of severe weather warnings for the weekend. A RED rainfall warning has been issued for Connacht, Donegal, Clare and Kerry, with accumulations in excess of 70mm expected (valid Friday from 6pm until Sunday at 3am. These levels of rainfall are expected to give rise to local flooding, possibly severe, in some areas and which may block roads and affect transport infrastructure.
A level ORANGE rainfall warning is in operation for Cavan, Clare, Cork and Limerick (valid Friday from 9pm until Sunday at 3am), and high winds are expected across the country with a level ORANGE wind warning is in operation for Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo (valid until 6pm on Saturday).
The combination of high winds and very heavy rainfall may give rise to very dangerous conditions and the public are advised to monitor the weather forecasts and heed public information advice for their specific area.
Non-essential travel in the affected areas should be avoided. Where roads become flooded, conditions may be extremely hazardous and motorists are advised to approach flooded roads with extreme caution, as flood waters may be stronger and deeper than anticipated.
Local authorities are monitoring the situation and response arrangements are in place to deal with flood emergencies and to co-ordinate with An Garda Síochána and the HSE to deal with the anticipated impact of forecast rainfall and high winds this evening and tomorrow.
The National Co-ordination Group, with OPW and ESB, will continue to monitor the river levels as some rivers are expected to flood, with this very heavy rainfall coming on top of a wet month of November.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.