Businesses in Galway city are opening their doors again this afternoon after the worst flash flooding in memory forced them to shut down yesterday.
A major clean-up was under way in the city and county after an electrical thunderstorm followed by torrential rain hit homes and businesses.
The flooding came as the city welcomed an influx of tourists for Galway Arts Week.
Emergency services last night pumped water from shops and business premises in the low-lying streets around the historic Spanish Arch area - among them the appropriately named Flood Street.
Gardaí sealed off a number of streets and redirected traffic when some areas of the city were flooded with over 12 inches of water.
The ESB despatched crews to restore power to over 1,000 homes affected by power cuts.
The damage will certainly cost hundreds of thousands of euro, mainly in lost business. Mr Michael Coyle, chief executive of Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it was not possible to put a figure on the damage caused at this point.
However, some businesses in the area have been unable to insure their premises against flooding after previous incidents if flooding due to tidal conditions. A number of businesses have made alterations to their premises and had sandbags ready to help prevent flood damage.
Mr Coyle said the clean-up work had gone extremely well thanks to a swift response from the fire services and Galway City Council yesterday evening.
He said businesses in the area had previously experienced flooding due to tidal conditions, but had never before witnessed such a "sustained cloudburst".
Mr Coyle said he had expected the damage to be worse after he saw people on television news "wading up to their knees in water".
"There will be a cost in terms of the night's business because people had to close down. There will also be some damage costs. But it's business as usual. There's a blue sky over Galway and the streetscape does not bear any ugly post-flood debris," he said.
Galway City Council staff said the older part of the city was served by culverts and small-bore pipes that simply could not cope with the volume of rain that fell yesterday.