A major clean-up operation has resumed this morning following widespread flooding caused by Storm Chandra.
Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford were among the counties worst hit by the impact of the storm on Tuesday, with some areas of Laois and Louth also affected.
Enniscorthy in Co Wexford saw large-scale flooding after the river Slaney burst its banks, and several parts of the town centre remain impassable.
A number of roads are closed, including the N80 in Bunclody.
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Flooding risks will remain into Wednesday and Thursday, as rain continues to fall on already saturated ground.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group is due to meet again on Wednesday as clean-up efforts continue.
Keith Leonard, national director of fire and emergency management, said local authorities are going to be “vigilant right out to the weekend” and “emergency services remain on standby”.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday, Mr Leonard said: “We were in contact with all local authorities on Monday and Met Éireann had issued a high and elevated risk for flooding to all local authorities right across the east region.”
He said the level of rainfall in some areas such as south Dublin “caught us a little bit more by surprise; we just weren’t expecting those levels of rainfall that fell”.
Mr Leonard urged people to contact their local authorities, or check their social media pages, for the latest updates on road closures.
[ Abandoned cars and flooded homes: Rathfarnham deals with Storm Chandra aftermathOpens in new window ]
The Department of Social Protection has announced that the Emergency Response Payment is now available to provide support to those living in properties directly affected by Storm Chandra. Details are available by calling 08 18 60 70 80.
“That will provide a couple of levels and it’ll provide immediate needs payments where people just need to do things quickly and it will also provide for the replacement of white goods and, where people aren’t insured, it will provide for structural repair as well,” Mr Leonard said.
“The Department of Employment and Trade are also operating a business scheme and we will be working with the local authorities today to identify all businesses that were affected and any uninsured businesses will be supported through that scheme.”
Several thousand premises were without electricity on Tuesday evening. ESB Networks said it was working to restore supply. Customers can visit powercheck.ie for the latest updates. Anyone who comes across fallen power lines is asked to report them to the ESB by calling 1800 372 999.
Met Éireann has said it will be cloudy and cool in many areas on Wednesday.
Scattered showers will move over Munster and south Leinster later this morning, becoming more prolonged across Munster later. Highest temperatures will range from 8 to 11 degrees Celsius.
No weather warnings are in place for the Republic at present, but a yellow warning for ice will remain in place for Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry until 10am.
Keith Lambkin, the head of climate services at Met Éireann, said that rainfall in Ireland has increased by seven per cent because of climate change. He warned that as the planet warms, heavier rainfall can be expected.
With regard to Storm Chandra, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that it had been a question of not necessarily the amount of rain that fell but where it actually fell.
“At the moment Ireland are putting together a flood warning system, the Met Eireann rain warnings would be sent into that, they would feed into a wider system. That system itself then, based on the amount of rain that was expected and the known fact that it was saturated levels, the local authorities and so forth would have been warned of the likes of localised flooding and many acted on the basis of that.
“What other jurisdictions have is a more complicated, better observation system that then feeds higher resolution models that then feed into a warning system.
“Ireland is currently in the process of putting that system in place, but only components of that are in there at the moment. That’s still in development.”
For the coming days, Mr Lambkin cautioned that conditions are already quite saturated so any additional rain is likely to cause complications. “The good news is we’re not necessarily expecting any more storms over the short term.”
