Parts of Cork city and county have been flooded, with a number of roads closed, as torrential rains hit the south and west of the country.
Heavy rain and wind is expected to continue across much of the western half of Irela
nd until Monday, with ongoing power outages in some parts.
Huge volumes of surface water resulted in the closure of the N27 South City Link Road, while the ramp to the N40 South Ring Road from Douglas was closed to help alleviate traffic build-up on the South Ring Road on Sunday evening.
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Cork City Council warned motorists to avoid several other local roads, while Garda advised the public to avoid making unnecessary road journeys across the county.
Gardaí said they received calls from homeowners across the city where water was lodging on the roadways and rising.
A small number of business premises and one house at the eastern end of Douglas Street near Summerhill South in the south inner city were flooded when the rain built up in a low-lying section of the street as the drains were unable to cope with the volume of rain and runoff.
Gardaí also received calls from motorists stuck on some of the city’s main arteries with water levels rising around them. It’s understood no one has had to be rescued even though some motorists were stuck for two to three hours.
Met Éireann issued two status yellow rain and wind warnings for Munster, Connacht and Donegal earlier this weekend, which were initially to last until Saturday night.
However, the rain warning was extended until 10pm on Sunday night, with spells of heavy rain forecast along with strengthening southeasterly winds.
Disruption caused by strong winds with speeds of up to 50-65km/h and gusts of 90-110km/h is expected to last until Monday afternoon.
The conditions caused power outages at several thousand homes with Fermoy, Ballina and Castlecomer the worst affected areas on Saturday evening. Real-time updates are available at powercheck.ie.
ESB said its crews are mobilised to restore power in affected areas. But there are still a large number of homes experiencing outages.
According to the website, some 2,500 customers were affected by a power outage in Donegal, however, power was restored in this area.
Spot flooding and slippery road conditions were also reported in some areas across the country.
There will be a return to better weather on Tuesday across the country with highest temperatures of 13-16 degrees, but Wednesday will be a wet day in many places, Met Éireann said.
Thursday will see a mostly dry start with sunny spells and similar temperatures of 13-16 degrees.
