Flood risk continues with status orange rain warning for Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny

A status orange rain warning has been issued for late on Sunday night for Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny as an unsettled spell of weather in the wake of Storm Babet continues.

A status yellow rain warning has also been issued for Sunday night for six counties, mainly across the west of Ireland.

The yellow weather warning applies to Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway from 6pm on Sunday to 6pm on Monday.

The orange weather warning will be in place from 4am on Monday morning to 4am Tuesday morning.

Heavy rain is forecast with the chance of thunder, with possible localised flooding and difficult travel conditions.

Met Éireann said Sunday night into Monday morning would see heavy rainfall in Connacht and Munster, compounding problems in areas flooded in recent days.

In Cork, parts of which was badly hit by flooding in recent days, Cork County Council suggested those people previously affected should be particularly vigilant this evening.

“Cork County Council is asking areas which were impacted by recent flood events to be conscious of the risk of possible future flooding,” the council said in a statement issued on Sunday afternoon. “Residents in flood-prone areas who have previously been issued with sandbags are advised to take all necessary precautions, considering the forecast.

“Although river levels have dropped over recent days, levels remain elevated. The advice is therefore for people to remain vigilant. Localised heavy downpours are expected, the exact location of which is unknown. It should be noted that surface water drainage systems have limited capacity and localised downpours and flash flooding may overwhelm drainage systems, even where they have been fully cleared. There is also a likelihood of surface water flooding on already saturated ground conditions.”

The council said members of the Civil Defence are standing by in case there is any repeat of serious problems. It says a limited number of sandbags are available and those seeking to obtain them should contact its emergency out-of-hours helpline on 021-4800048.

The only road closure anticipated at present is at Main Street, Carrigaline, which is to be shut from 9.30pm on Sunday until morning, when the situation will be reviewed. Motorists are warned to be particularly careful, as weather and road conditions may be extremely poor.

As the rain moves eastward over the course of Sunday night and into Monday, Met Éireann forecasts Waterford could be particularly impacted by “heavy falls and localised flooding”. Substantial downpours are also anticipated in Dublin and other areas of the east coast.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s This Week, Minister for Environment Eamon Ryan said a decision would be taken by Government this week on any increases to supports to businesses affected by the flooding to date. Currently such aid is capped at €20,000.

Mr Ryan suggested that the scale of help offered to households could be discussed by Cabinet and said he supported a review of the caps currently in place.

“We want to give that support quickly and we’ve had other instances in other towns around the country where we have been able to provide that support, so we will do so. The exact level of funding is something that would only be worked out in the coming weeks as we see the scale of the problem.

“I don’t want to speculate in advance of a Cabinet and obviously Minister Simon Coveney would have lead responsibility as Minister for Enterprise, but we work collectively, we will listen on Tuesday and get the latest update on the scale of damage.

“It was very significant in Midleton that 200 homes [were impacted] as well as all those businesses on Main Street, so I think we have to look at both housing and businesses and supply the support we can.”

Asked specifically whether he supported the idea of raising the €20,000 limit with regard to businesses, he indicated he did.

“Yeah, like my Cabinet colleagues, I think both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have also said that we have to be flexible here. That shouldn’t be a strict limit, but what exactly the level of funding is and how we deliver it, I think we have to wait until Cabinet so we can actually get the advice from the experts, find out in detail what scale of support may be needed, and then make the call on it.

Mr Ryan suggested the scale of the flooding in Midleton this week was a result of the combination of factors including the additional mount of rainfall caused by climate change, the amount of time the construction of flood defences around the town has taken, the particular nature of the geophysical landscape in the area and a failure on the part of Met Éireann to anticipate the scale of the coming problem.

“I think Met Éireann’s quality of forecasting has improved incredibly in recent years and decades. It’s actually much more accurate. You can never [be 100 per cent accurate], particularly with the nature of climate change that’s happening, where you can often have very, very localised conditions with very heavy outbursts. But actually I think our forecasting capabilities are very good now.

“What we need to do in terms of forecasting now is knowledge about groundwater. It’s knowledge about what’s happening upstream, looking at a whole river catchment, so that we can connect what is now increasingly very accurate forecasting in terms of rainfall with much better understanding of what’s happening in the ground, in our rivers underground – and therefore come up with a much better, accurate, flood prediction modelling. That’s where I think the real progress or real investment needs to be made, because we are going to face a world and a country where we see this happening more frequently, unfortunately.”

Earlier, Met Éireann forecaster Rebecca Cantwell had said the extremely wet weather may be a result of climate change. The seas around Ireland are several degrees warmer than average.

“These low-pressure systems are coming with warm, moist air of tropical origin, and there is a lot more moisture,” she said. “With a warming atmosphere, we are expecting more extreme events like this.”

Spot flooding had been reported in many places in the Greater Dublin Area following torrential rain on Friday.

[ Met Éireann to shake up its weather warning system ]

Lusk in north County Dublin recorded 73mm of rain – almost a typical month’s worth in a single day. Balbriggan had 59mm, Skerries 58mm and Ashbourne 55mm.

Met Éireann experienced 33mm of rain at its station in the Phoenix Park and 40mm in Arklow, Co Wicklow.

Spot flooding was reported on the N7, on Kiltee Road in Rathcoole, Millers Lane in Skerries and Blakes Cross in Lusk.

Some farmers and other landowners in Co Meath and Co Louth also experienced major flooding.

The clean-up continues in Midleton, which saw the worst impact of Storm Babet. The Government has pledged at least €10 million in emergency funding for businesses and homeowners affected.