The National Co-ordination Group for Severe Weather Emergencies has advised the public to avoid non essential travel after Met Eireann upgraded its weather warning to the highest level.
A Red alert is in efffect as ‘Storm Desmond’ crosses the northwest bringing high winds and over three inches of rain fall.
The storms impact is already being felt.
Hundreds lost power in Carndonagh and Downings with more outages likely. There have also been reports of downed power lines and surface water on roads.
The National Co-ordination Group for Severe Weather Emergencies met to assess the current weather forecast and flood threats.
They have issues the following warning:
Extremely heavy and prolonged rainfall is forecast for West, Mid-West and North West regions on Friday night and all through Saturday. Met Éireann have issued a number of severe weather warnings for the coming weekend. A RED rainfall warning has been issued for Connacht, Donegal, Clare and Kerry with accumulations in excess of 70mm expected (valid Fri 18:00 – until Sun 03:00). These levels of rainfall are expected to give rise to local flooding, possibly severe, in some areas and which may block roads and affect transport infrastucture.
A level ORANGE wind warning is in operation for Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo (valid Fri 09:00 hours until 18:00 hours Sat)
The Council is continually monitoring conditions and will respond to emergency call outs as required.
The Council can be contacted on 074 91 53900 and in the event of an out of hours emergency you can contact the Council’s Road Service on 074 91 72288.
Siobhan Ryan from Met Eireann is urging people to take the Red warning seriously:
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