Heavy rain and flooding expected as weather warning issued for 20 counties

Met Éireann has issued a weather warning for 20 counties as heavy rain may cause spot flooding in parts of Ireland.

Heavy rain is expected to fall in the 30 hours between 6pm on Sunday evening and midnight on Tuesday.

The yellow weather warning is for all the counties in the Republic with the exception of Dublin, Meath, Louth, Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal.

Heavy rainfall will occur during the period indicated with the potential for heavy downpours locally and during shorter intervals.

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The rainfall could cause flooding as the ground is saturated following a very wet autumn to date. Between 1.5 and twice the normal amount of rainfall fell last week and the ground is already saturated.

Met Éireann forecaster Liz Gavin said between 20mms and 50mms could fall anywhere in the 20 counties covered by the weather warning. "All counties within the yellow area are equally at risk," she said.

“The water table is quite high at the moment. There is a risk of flooding on some roads.”

The forecast for the week is for more rain and unsettled weather. Tuesday night will see more heavy rain to be replaced by showers on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The farming forecast suggests that, with the exception of the southeast, rainfall will be 1.5 to 2.5 the average for the rest of the country.