Met Éireann has issued rainfall warnings for several counties, including status orange warnings for Waterford and Wicklow.
The orange rainfall warning for these two counties will be in effect from 3am on Thursday until 3am on Friday.
Waterford and Wicklow will experience “spells of very heavy rain falling on already saturated ground, combined with high river levels and high tides”.
Localised flooding, river flooding and difficult travel conditions are expected in both counties, according to Met Éireann.
RM Block
A status yellow rain warning will be in effect for Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Wexford, Monaghan and Tipperary from 3am on Thursday until 3am on Friday.
These counties are also likely to experience flooding and difficult travel conditions.
Several rivers including the Liffey, the Nore, the Barrow and the Slaney already have very high water levels and these are expected to rise further on Wednesday and Thursday.
Met Éireann have said that last month was the second wettest January on record in Co Dublin, behind 1948.
The forecaster’s monthly climate statement said 141mm rainfall was recorded at the Phoenix Park, some 225 per cent of the long-term average (LTA), and 137.7mm was recorded at Dublin Airport, 223 per cent of the LTA.
Nationally, the report notes, it was the wettest January since 2018 and 18th wettest on record, with the average amount of rain recorded representing 123 per cent of the LTA.
Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford was the wettest station this month, with 232.7mm of rain (230 per cent of its LTA) recorded, making it the wettest January since 1996. A total of 37.3mm of rain fell at Johnstown Castle last Friday, the wettest January day there since 1979.
Wicklow County Council and Waterford County Council have advised members of the public to take extra caution in the coming days.
A number of roads are closed in Wicklow, following storm damage in recent days. The council has advised that more roads may be closed in the coming days.
Motorists in both counties have been urged to allow extra travel time, reduce speed and not attempt to drive on roads that are closed.
“Our teams remain vigilant, monitoring the situation to assess potential impacts in the county, and in particular for the recently flood-affected areas,” a statement from Wicklow County Council said.
“We remain ready to respond to the ongoing flooding situation as issues may occur. Repair work is still ongoing around the county, to damaged roads, pipes and manholes.
“Requests from the public for sandbags are responded to following assessment of need and subject to availability of stock of sandbags.”
Waterford City and County Council said sandbags are available at council depots in Dungarvan (X91 N793), Carrickphierish (X91 N40T), Tramore (X91 RD74) and Leperstown (X91 YH90). It said a number of car parks will be closed from this evening until 10am tomorrow, before closing again on Thursday evening from 7pm.
A number of flood defence barriers will also be activated. Full information on locations can be found here.
Dublin City Council is “monitoring river levels and coastal conditions closely, to ensure appropriate responses as required”, a statement said.
Car parks along the coast at Sandymount and Clontarf remain closed to “protect against possible wave overtopping”.
The cycle lane at Clontarf, the Eden Quay boardwalk and the flood gates along the river Dodder will also remain closed until further notice as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, more than 100 households have applied for financial assistance following the floods, a meeting of Fine Gael’s parliamentary party was told Wednesday evening.
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said there have been 103 claims under Emergency Response Payment for flood-hit households and many more are expected.
He said 10 applications have been made to date by businesses and community organisations under a separate assistance scheme.
Harris also told the meeting that a Cabinet sub-committee will meet soon to examine the early weather warning system and the governance structure for future adverse weather events.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Harris said Ministers held an “important conversation” on Tuesday night about interim works that can be put in place to mitigate the impact of further rainfall.
Regarding permanent flood relief schemes, he acknowledged that communities are looking for “what more can be done in the here and now”.
There will be more engagement next week on flood warning systems against the backdrop of a “significant difference between a yellow and red weather warning” for rain when rivers are low or high, he said.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group met again on Tuesday to “continue to assess the flooding situation and prepare for the risk of further flooding this week”.
“All relevant departments, agencies and local authorities are on alert for difficult conditions over the coming week that may result in flooding in some areas,” it said in a statement.
“They are working to put in place measures to mitigate the impact of further rain, and to ensure readiness to respond to any flooding incidents.”
Met Éireann’s Andrew Doran-Sherlock said people “really need to pay attention to what the weather conditions are and what river gauge data is”.
How to get information on flooding risks
So how do I know that?
The meteorologist told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland that “local authorities will have the best guidance because they’ll have a good idea of the response times of the rivers in their areas”.
“It’s important to note that even when it’s not raining there are some delayed responses in some rivers and catchment areas, so the risk of flooding doesn’t necessarily stop just because the rain has stopped, there can be delayed responses.”
Doran-Sherlock said more heavy rain is on the way, bringing a risk of further flooding.
“As it currently stands, Sunday is looking like the driest day of the week, but really, as we head into next week, there isn’t quite a let up. It’s still going to be dominated by low pressure.”
Keith Leonard, from the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, said “absolutely every engineering solution and every kind of interim measure” is being taken to deal with the record-breaking levels of water in river catchments around the country.
“What we’re looking at, I think, today and particularly into tomorrow is difficult conditions across that eastern region. I think the Nore, the Barrow, the Slaney and the Liffey catchments are going to see very high levels right across this evening and into tomorrow,” he told Morning Ireland.
“We’re in a very unusual situation now, where even rainfall below the warning thresholds can have an impact across the rivers and sometimes the rainfall, the impact lags behind the rainfall, so you could have impacts right up until Friday.”
People are advised to follow the latest weather updates on Met Éireann’s website and to track their local river levels on the OPW’s Water Level website.
