Strong winds and heavy rain to follow Storm Frank

Met Éireann has warned of another bout of strong winds and heavy rain due to hit the country today despite the expected departure of Storm Frank.

Thousands were left without power across the south, west and north yesterday evening as winds of 80km/h brought down power lines and spot flooding caused havoc on local roads.

Status orange warnings for wind and rain were yesterday issued for counties such as Donegal, Kerry, Cork and Galway, the latter of which remains in effect until noon today.

Met Éireann said yesterday that it was examining whether the next weather pattern constituted another storm. Storm Gertrude, as it would be known, could mark the seventh major weather event since the inception of the new naming system for winter storms in Ireland and the UK.

‘Very, very strong winds’

“There’s going to be a sting in the tail, there’s going to be a small window of very, very strong winds and a brief spell of heavy rain from a secondary area of low pressure, which will run up along the west coast,” said forecaster

Evelyn Cusack

, who mentioned the risk of yet more weather warnings as a result.

Whereas Storm Frank constitutes the main weather event, the second front is expected to bring further deluges and storm-force winds to Atlantic coastal counties for a period of about two hours this afternoon.

Storm-force winds in particular caused some disruption to transport yesterday, with a limited number of flights cancelled, along with ferry sailings.

Despite being subjected to some of the most inclement conditions nationwide, Cork Airport managed to maintain a normal service, as did Shannon Airport.

Residents in flood-prone locations were bracing themselves for further difficulties last night, given that river levels on the Shannon had risen by 6cm in places over a 48-hour period, and the mid-catchment in Athlone was running 3cm higher than its peak following Storm Desmond, with further increases expected.

The discharge rate at Inniscarra Dam on the river Lee may yet rise to more than 250 cubic centimetres per second (cumecs), up from 180 cumecs yesterday afternoon. The ESB said output from Parteen Weir could top 500 cumecs in the coming days, with water levels in Lough Derg approaching those last seen in 2009.

Susceptible

Such moves could leave land, roads and properties in Cork,

Limerick

and Clare susceptible to further flooding, and members of the

Defence Forces

continued their deployment to the midlands and west on flood relief duties yesterday.

Salthill Promenade in Galway was closed to traffic and pedestrians yesterday evening as sandbagging was ongoing, and Jim Casey of the Office of Public Works informed a meeting of the National Co-ordination Committee of the threat to some sea walls where weaknesses could be "exploited" by high swells whipped up by ferocious winds.

Advice from the Coast Guard to avoid exposed seafronts, cliffs and piers is still in effect today, and gardaí have warned motorists to beware of the possibility of large waves overtopping sea walls.