Rain, flooding and wind warnings as Atlantic storm Alex arrives

A series of weather warnings are in force for much of the country today as the remnants of ‘Storm Alex’ crosses the country.

A status yellow rainfall warning is in place for Kildare, Laois, Longford, Wicklow, Offaly, Westmeath, Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo from 6am to 9pm on Sunday.

This warning, which will remain in place until 6am on Monday, states that rainfall totals of 25 to 40mm are forecast and that this could result in spot flooding and some rivers breaching their banks.

A yellow wind warning is also in place for counties Donegal, Mayo and Sligo with gusts of northwest winds of up 90 to 100 km/h forecast. This warning is in place until 9pm.

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A similar status yellow wind warning has been issued for Galway, Clare and Kerry, with gusts of up to 100 km/h forecast in coastal areas. This warning is in place until 10pm.

Met Éireann forecaster Gavin Gallagher said the strong northwesterly winds from 'Storm Alex' will cross the country overnight and on Sunday.

He stressed that Storm Alex is not a “named” storm as recognised by Met Éireann, the UK Met Office and the Dutch weather service KNMI.

“For us to have a named storm, it would need to be seeing orange wind warnings and above,” he said.

The first named storm of the year will be Storm Aiden whenever it arrives.

Storm Alex was named by the French Met office on Thursday and is a dangerous weather system which developed in the Bay of Biscay off France in the Atlantic Ocean and swept over much of France, northern Spain, Germany and Italy, causing flooding as far east as Venice.

In Britain the Met Office has issued a series of weather warnings and flood alerts.

A family of four had to be rescued by firefighters from a road in Billericay, Essex, on Saturday morning after their car became trapped in floodwater.

There are amber weather warnings for rain in Wales, the West Midlands, south-west England and also parts of eastern Scotland on Saturday.

Police forces across the country have issued warnings to drivers after a number of crashes on waterlogged roads.

Some of its strongest winds reached southern England and Wales on Saturday, causing widespread flooding and transport disruption.