Orange weather warning in place for south of Ireland with heavy rain and possible flooding

The south of Ireland is bracing for heavy weather after Met Éireann issued an orange weather warning for Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.

It forecast heavy rain between Tuesday and Wednesday night, with the possibility of thundery downpours leading to localised flooding.

It also issued a yellow warning for heavy rain on Tuesday and Wednesday in Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly and Tipperary.

A small craft warning for all coasts of Ireland was in place until 6am on Thursday, as southeast to east winds were expected to reach force 6 or higher at times.

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[ Cork flooding: Council says drains were not blocked before rain deluge ]

Repairs have been completed on a burst water main that caused widespread outages and low pressure in Dublin on Tuesday but it could still take some hours for supplies to return to normal.

Irish Water and Dublin City Council dispatched repair crews to fix the supply outage that had affected residents and businesses in Rathfarnham, Rathdown, Crannagh, Terenure, Milltown, Rathgar, Ranelagh, Bushy Park, Rathmines, Harold’s Cross and surrounding areas in the south of the city and county.

Following investigations, it emerged that an eight metre section of aging pipeline.

“It could take up to six hours for full supply to be restored to all impacted properties, especially those on higher ground and on the edge of the network,” a spokesman said.

“Customers may experience some temporary discolouration of water following the works and occasionally issues such as internal airlocks may arise.”

Ahead of the anticipated severe conditions, Cork City Council was advising people to protect their properties by purchasing sandbags or gelbags from hardware shops or builders’ providers.

[ Flood danger for Ireland’s east and south with heavy rains expected over coming days ]

On Tuesday afternoon its flood assessment team met and issued a level two alert across the city.

“The necessary preparations are being made for a pluvial (rainfall) flooding event and operations crews are checking gullies and screens across the city to ensure they are cleared in advance,” it said in a statement. “Crews will be on alert before, during and after the event.”

Although neither tidal nor river flooding was forecast, the local authority said rainfall flooding remained a “strong possibility” in locations across the city, where short duration thundery rain bursts occurred.

Clean-up efforts had continued around the city during the day after 55mm of rain fell on Sunday, almost four times the 15mm predicted in a yellow rain warning.

Roads affected included the South City Link Road, the N40 South Ring Road and roads in Blackpool, Douglas and Togher. Localised flooding affected the North Mall and Ballyphehane.

The city council said crews had ensured that the city’s network of trash screens and gullies were all clear in advance of the downpour. “However, given the volume and intensity of rain, with much of the rain falling over a 30-minute period, localised flooding occurred as the drainage network struggled to cope.”