An orange rain alert for Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford has now lifted, but a separate yellow warning for several counties remains in place amid the impact of Storm Claudia.
Road users had been urged to exercise extreme caution while travelling on Friday night and people were asked to avoid unnecessary journeys until at least 8am today, when the orange warning for the three counties was lifted.
A separate yellow rain warning for Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Louth, Meath, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford is in place until 9am.
There has been flooding in some areas with fallen trees making some roads impassable, and local authorities along the east coast have deployed flood response teams to at-risk areas.
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Speaking on the RTÉ news at 9pm on Friday, Met Éireann’s senior forecaster Gerry Murphy said the storm was moving very slowly, something which led to the rain falling for much longer than normal.
“Tomorrow will still be a cloudy, murky day, but the rainfall will become lighter as we head towards morning but, over the next few hours, still more heavy rain is on the way to the east and south of the country so great care needed in these areas.”
While the orange warning was lifted shortly after dawn, the full impact of the high winds and driving rain that are sweeping across eastern parts of the country won’t be felt until later this weekend with the risk of flooding set to persist throughout Saturday and into Sunday.
The National Director for Fire and Emergency Management Keith Leonard warned that Storm Claudia had caused “significant flooding right across the country and there was probably more to come”.
High winds uprooted trees and made roads impassible in Wexford while there was significant flooding in Laois and Offaly where no weather warnings were in place.
Mr Leonard said the agency would be paying close attention to the catchment areas of the rivers Slaney, Barrow and Liffey with councils on standby and ready to activate flood plans if deemed necessary.
Most public transport operated on Friday but delays were reported on some ferry crossings and eight flights to and from Dublin to Leeds Bradford and Birmingham operated by Aer Lingus subsidiary Emerald Airlines were cancelled as crosswind speeds were expected to exceed safe operating levels for the propeller aircraft used by Emerald.
The DAA said that wet and windy weather would continue into Saturday morning but the airport was “expected to operate close to a full schedule.”
Cork City Council made the decision to proceed with its Corkmas parade, the official start of Christmas festivities in the city, despite wet and windy conditions.
Events on Saturday are not expected to be widely disrupted once the weather warnings elapse, with the Irish rugby team set to play Australia in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. However, for local events, conditions may vary.
