Floods and bad road conditions created havoc yesterday in counties Meath, Kildare and north Wicklow. Many roads remained flooded last night.
A spokesman for Meath County Council said: "Two of the main three artery roads from Meath to Dublin [the N2 and the N3] were impassable yesterday morning, so I would imagine that most workers did not make it into Dublin."
Clonee village remained impassable up to yesterday evening, with up to 200 cars abandoned in the Dunboyne-Clonee area. Commercial premises and residential areas have also been severely damaged by flooding - some did not have insurance because of previous flooding problems. "There are five to six housing developments in Dunboyne that have been badly affected, and local businesses have also been hit," he added.
Many of these residential areas in Dunboyne, like Larsfield and Beechdale, have been flooded before. One resident said: "It appears to be worse this time.People are worried now that it is a recurring problem and that insurance premiums may be hiked."
By mid-afternoon on Thursday every road in the south and south-east of Co Meath was affected by some level of flooding but incidents were more isolated yesterday.
Along with the water flowing from the River Tolka, the spokesman said a significant amount of rainwater was flowing off farmland and on to the roads.
"The downpours in recent days just added to the high levels of rainfall over the last six weeks. Some areas of farmland just couldn't take any more water, and so it just ran off the land," he said.
The weather will determine when the roads will reopen, Meath County Council said. "It depends very much on nature when these roads will be reopened but flood levels do appear to be dropping quite quickly in all areas, apart from Dunboyne and Clonee. We don't know if there will be more rain."
All Bus Éireann routes operating on the N3 were cancelled yesterday until late afternoon. "We were told by local authorities and by gardaí which roads we could not serve," a Bus Éireann spokesman said. "Services will resume as normal when the roads are clear."
The N1 and N2 were reopened yesterday but bus routes remain affected. "A restricted service subject to delays will operate on routes using these roads," the spokesman said. On all other routes to and from Dublin, delays of up to two hours were experienced.
The north-eastern part of Co Kildare was worst affected by flooding. The Clane to Celbridge road was closed yesterday and was still being cleared last night. The Kill to Straffan road was closed after a number of cars became stuck due to high water levels. The N7 road, south of Kildare town, was still being cleared last night.
In addition, there were flooding problems in parts of north Wicklow, notably near Enniskerry, Kilcoole and Greystones.