Motorists warned of black ice and flooding across country

Motorists have been urged to take care this Christmas Eve as black ice and flooding have been reported on roads around the country.

AA Roadwatch has reported black ice on the M3 near Dunshaughlin in Co Meath, and on the M6 Dublin to Galway road between Ballinasloe East and Athenry.

Spot flooding remains an issue across many parts of the country, with diversions in place on roads in Galway, Mayo, Leitrim and Kilkenny.

Over 400 homes and businesses were without power following Storm Eva, with ESB working to restore power to all homes by tonight.

There is a large outage in Milltown, Co Dublin as well as in Kilcar, Co Donegal.

At the peak of Storm Eva, about 6,000 customers without power on Wednesday night.

An ESB spokeswoman said crews had worked through the night to get the faults. "We hope to have everybody back before Santa comes," a spokeswoman for ESB Networks said.

Met Éireann's yellow alert for strong winds in Leinster and Munster has now been lifted and it has forecast a white Christmas in some parts of Ireland. There were reports of snow in western areas such as Clare and Galway.

The winds brought by the storm gusted at more than 100km/hr win some areas overnight. Some thunderstorms and heavy rain are forecast later in the day.

White Christmas

Meteorologist Klara Finkele said Met Éireann was "on the edge" of issuing a status red wind warning following high gusts at Belmullet, Co Mayo on Wednesday.

“We were a little bit concerned earlier because we had a 45-knot wind in Belmullet, gusting 73 knots,” she said.

“That would be right on the edge of a status red warning, but it came down to about a gust of 65 knots an hour later. Elsewhere, Mace Head had a 40 knot wind, gusting 56 knots.

“We extended the orange wind warning down to Clare and Cork where there were quite high winds. Roche’s Point at 5pm had a 35 knot wind. Sherkin Island had a 30 knot wind with a gust of 44 knots. So it’s been very very windy.”

Nine islanders were flown to Tory island off Co Donegal by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter.

Christmas post and cargo, including 45 bags of shopping and toys, were also delivered in a series of five flights undertaken from Carrickfinn Airport to Tory by the Sligo-based Irish Coast Guard rescue helicopter.

The helicopter cargo included 10 boxes of bread, 40 crates of milk, 30 bags of potatoes, 10 boxes of fruit and vegetables, 25 boxes of meat, 15 boxes of groceries, and toys.

Ferry services to the island had been disrupted for the past week due to weather, and residents had no postal deliveries of fresh food supplies as a result. The flights took place before the peak of Storm Eva was due to hit the west and northwest coast.

Ms Finkele it would be colder weather on Christmas Eve with temperatures of 2 to 6 degrees.

“Once the storm has cleared it will turn colder, so it will be a chilly start with some sunny spells,” she said.

“It will brighten up by afternoon. There will be heavy thundery showers in the west and north and they may turn wintery, especially on higher ground.”

Christmas Eve night will be “quite cold” with temperatures dropping to one to four degrees with frost. Winds will be light to moderate. Towards dawn on Christmas Day rain will “push in from the southwest and become widespread and quite heavy”.

Highest risk

Ms Finkele said that because of the low temperatures, there was a good chance of snow on Christmas Day.

“The freezing level will come down to about 400 metres, so there will be wintery showers on higher ground and they will be more frequent, and heaviest in the north and west,” she said.

The “highest risk” will be in places like Kerry, Cork and Donegal, while the east will be “mostly dry” but with an “outside chance”.