Camper van driver has lucky escape in Clare after vehicle blown across road near Cliffs of Moher

The new year is to get off to a wet and windy start, with heavy rain and thunder possible, Met Éireann has said.

A yellow wind warning was in place for Clare, Cork, Limerick and Kerry until 5pm on Sunday due to westerly winds becoming “strong and gusty at times”.

A man had a lucky escape on Sunday when his campervan was blown across a busy road and through a stone wall in Co Clare. The incident occurred at around 2pm on the R478 Lahinch to Doolin coast road, close to the Cliffs of Moher. The driver managed to escape the vehicle, which ended up on its side, uninjured.

Elsewhere, New Year’s Eve is forecast to be breezy or windy with scattered showers. Highest temperatures of between five and eight degrees are forecast along with strong and gusty westerly wind, strongest in the southwest.

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The wind is due to ease over night and New Year’s Day is forecast to start with a mix of sunny spells and a few isolated showers. Cloud is expected to build during the day with rain spreading across the country from the southwest during the afternoon and evening. Highest temperatures of five to nine degrees are forecast with a light to moderate wind.

Tuesday will be a rather unsettled and cloudy day with scattered showers and blustery winds. Some isolated sunny spells will develop across eastern counties, however. It will stay rather cloudy through the night with the showers becoming confined to western and northern counties. Lowest temperatures of one to four degrees in a moderate westerly breeze.

There will be a mix of cloud and some sunny spells for Wednesday but some showers will move into western and northern counties during the morning and afternoon. It will stay mostly dry across Leinster and east Munster with highest temperatures of five to nine degrees.

Looking further ahead, the current indications are that the unsettled weather is to continue with a mix of cloud and showers for most counties.

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