HOUSEHOLDERS and business owners will have to batten down the hatches over the coming days as the brutal Atlantic storm hammering the country is not expected to settle down until Wednesday.
After days spent cleaning up the destruction caused by last week's storms, with estimates of the repair bill hitting €225m, the country is set to face further weather misery including high winds and a risk of flooding into tomorrow.
A renewed Met Eireann 'orange alert', issued last night for vast swathes of the south and west, and will remain in force until midday with winds gusting up to 120kmh in Wexford, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford.
The rest of the country also faces high winds, with a 'status yellow' warning in effect.
As the cost of the worst storms in 15 years continues to mount, the Government has said it is looking at the need for an emergency capital fund to pay for repairs to public roads, car parks and facilities which have been destroyed by the severe weather conditions.
Met Eireann forecaster Pat Clarke told the Irish Independent that the stormy weather will last into tomorrow, adding: "The south and south-west coast will bear the brunt of these conditions with a very high risk of coastal flooding, but also some spot flooding inland".
He said: "We have had worse storms in the past in terms of wind, but this time we had high tides as well so the critical factor here has been the combination of all of these weather events; high winds, heavy rain and high seas all together," he said.
He blamed "a huge storm" currently in the middle of the Atlantic, which he said "is feeding the high winds, high seas and heavy rain over Ireland.
"At the moment, it doesn't look like the storm centre will be coming in over Ireland, but it will continue to throw this poor weather in our direction."
He said it will be Wednesday before the country returns to "normal winter weather"
Source-Irish News
No comments:
Post a Comment