Heavy rain causes flooding in Cork and driving difficulties in Dublin, with nine counties under weather warning

As a Status Yellow remained in place for Munster, Connacht and Donegal until 10pm tonight, gardai advised that many areas in Cork are impassable due to spot flooding, including the N27 South City Link Road which was closed, leaving a number of motorists stranded.

They also said excess surface water was causing traffic jams on the N40 South City Ring Road as well as the Centre Park Road in Cork city earlier where there was heavy volumes of post-match traffic from Páirc Ui Chaoimh.

Images posted on social media by Cork Safety Alerts this evening showed beer kegs floating down Douglas Street and emergency crews pumping out water from flooded streets in Blackpool where a resident described what looked like a river floating down the street and coming into shop doors.

Elsewhere flooding was reported at various locations around the city and outskirts, including Harbour View Road, Penrose Quay, Sunday’s Well, the Grange Road in Douglas and Ship Street.

There are reports that the river burst its banks at the Kilkully Bridge and that the Crestfield Shopping Centre in Glanmire was flooded.

The adverse weather conditions also left around 1,212 households without power in Midleton shortly after 7.30pm , with ESB crews hoping to restore electricity to the area by 11.15pm tonight.

"Gardaí are advising motorists to drive with caution in Dublin city centre this evening as visibility is low due to heavy rain,” a garda statement said.

“Road conditions are also compromised due to a build up of surface water. Motorists are urged not to make unnecessary journeys this evening.”

Meanwhile, a Status Yellow wind warning remains in place for nine counties in the south, west and northwest until noon tomorrow where gusts of between 90 and 110 km/h are forecast along with mean wind speeds of between 50 to 65 km/h for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Leitrim and Sligo.

Met Eireann warned of wet and windy conditions with strong and gusty southeast winds and gale force gusts along Atlantic coasts possibly leading to further disruption tonight.

Heavy, thundery rain will continue to move northwards across the country but will clear northeastwards early in the night, with clear spells following.

Meanwhile, an ESB spokesman said despite the wind warning “ there have been a few relatively small power outages which our crews have been responding to as they arise.”

“The outages are predominantly weather related. So far, the scale of disruption on the network has been modest and in line with past experience of similar Status Yellow warnings.

As of 8.30pm, 700 customers were without power in Callan, Co Kilkenny with “smaller pockets of customers without power in the South and West. Crews are mobilised and working towards restoring power to these customers this evening.”