A Status Orange wind warning has been issued for a number of counties as Storm Ellen approaches Ireland.
The storm will hit Ireland tonight (Wednesday, August 19) with warnings in place from 9:00pm until 12:00pm tomorrow, Thursday.
The wind warning is in place for counties Galway, Mayo, Clare, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford.
Met Éireann has warned that the storm may lead to flooding: “Due to the combination of storm surge, spring tides and onshore winds there is a potential risk of coastal flooding.
It will become very windy on Wednesday night and throughout the day on Thursday. Severe gusts are likely and there is a risk of some disruption.
There are also Status Yellow wind warnings issued covering the whole island of Ireland.
The warning for the Republic of Ireland was issued at 3:00pm yesterday (Tuesday, August 18), and will be in effect from tonight at 9:00pm.
The warning for Northern Ireland was issued just after 11:00am yesterday morning, and will come into effect one hour earlier tonight.
Both warnings will last throughout all of Thursday and lift at 11:59pm that night.
For Northern Ireland, the UK’s Met Office (which uses a similar system of weather warnings) said: “Strong winds are expected to cause some disruption to travel and power supplies on Thursday.”
Rainfall Warning
Just yesterday, the country emerged from a Status Yellow rainfall warning for much of the country.
The warning lifted at 7:00am, and had covered the southern half of the country: all of Munster; as well as counties Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Wexford, Wicklow, Offaly and Galway.
Heavy or thundery rain, with localised flooding and water accumulations of 25mm to 40mm, were seen in some parts.