New rain warnings issued for eastern and southern counties bringing fresh flood risk
Sarah Slater and Ottoline Spearman
A status yellow rain warning has been issued for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Cork, Waterford for St Brigid's day.
The warning will be in place from 1pm on Monday until 9am on Tuesday.
Met Éireann said that further heavy rain falling on saturated ground, combined with high river levels and high tides, will lead to localised flooding, river flooding and difficult travel conditions.
A status yellow rain warning is also in place from 9pm on Monday to 1pm on Tuesday for Dublin, Louth, and Wicklow.
In the North, there is a yellow ice warning in place for Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry, from 7pm on Sunday to 9am on Monday.
The warnings come as Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister Kevin “Boxer” Moran are to visit areas severely affected by flooding from Storm Chandra in Carlow and Kilkenny this week.
Callan, Graiguenamanagh and Thomastown in Kilkenny and Rathvilly, and Carlow town have all fallen victim as the Barrow, Duiske, Nore, Burren and Slaney rivers burst their banks.
Local Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness has said that he spoke with the Taoiseach and Minister Moran and “insisted” that they visit both counties to view all of the locations that are flooded.
“I asked where necessary funding should be provided for immediate work to repair all roads damaged by flooding,” explained McGuinness.
He added: “There should be no delay in providing all those affected by flood damage with the financial support to get back to normality as quickly as possible.
“The future now needs to be secured by delivering flood relief schemes as quickly as possible.”
Carlow County Council has said that the potential for further flooding on Sunday and Monday remains “very serious”.
River levels across the county have dropped slightly overnight, with the Barrow and Burren still extremely high and at near record levels.
The council is continuing to pump water and provide sandbags at most impacted areas. Rainfall and river levels will continue to be monitored and further updates from the council will be issued as required.
Clean-up operations are continuing along the quays and promenade in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford as the town once again was hit with flooding. A promised flood relief scheme first mooted 25 years ago has yet to be put in place.
On Saturday, MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú visited areas of Co Wicklow also devastated by flooding.
Ní Mhurchú said that flooding in the south-east of the country, particularly counties Wicklow, Wexford, and Kilkenny has caused “devastating damage, loss and distress, for families and businesses".
She said that “Irish people cannot be left to deal with this (flooding) alone” and called for flood insurance cover to be re-examined and to mirror a UK flood relief scheme.
“Ireland needs real action on flood defences, proper investment in infrastructure and a clear plan to protect our south-east communities from repeated devastation. Support and action are needed now, especially in the area of re-insurance such as the UK scheme ‘Flood Re’.
“This is a joint industry and government initiative for flood re-insurance, which provides reinsurance to promote affordability and availability of insurance for UK households at high flood risk and to manage the transition to risk-reflective pricing of flood insurance for household premises”.
