Further flooding expected as Storm Jorge is set to batter Ireland
An orange wind warning is in place for seven counties from Saturday as Storm Jorge is set to batter Ireland.
Met Eireann has warned that gusts could reach above 130km/h during Storm Jorge this weekend with possibly higher speeds in exposed areas 'with an elevated risk of coastal flooding.'
A Status Orange wind warning for Galway, Mayo, Clare and Kerry kicks in tomorrow at 6 am and for Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo at 12pm.
A Status Yellow wind warning in place for the rest of the country as a result of the approaching storm, with that warning to begin at 9am in tomorrow morning.
A Status Red Marine Gale Warning will also develop tonight on Irish coastal waters.
Storm Jorge (pronounced Hor-hay) named by the Spanish Meteorological Service, is the third named storm to hit Ireland during February following on from Ciara and Dennis.
Met Éireann says up to three times the normal amount of rainfall for February has already fallen in some areas.
"Storm Jorge (pronounced Hor-hay) is a storm centre which will undergo rapid cyclogenesis in the mid-Atlantic during Friday 28th February as it tracks northeastwards towards Ireland. It is then expected to fill slowly as it crosses over the north of the country during Saturday 29th February.
"Storm Jorge is forecast to bring severe winds to western and northwestern coastal counties (orange wind warning) and less severe winds to the rest of the country (yellow wind warning) from Saturday morning into early Sunday morning.
"Spells of heavy rain associated with Storm Jorge will worsen the flooding situation across the country. A yellow level rainfall warning will come into operation for Munster, Connacht and Donegal from Thursday night to late on Saturday evening."
A National Emergency Coordination Group meeting was held today chaired by Minister Eoghan Murphy as part of the ongoing response to the flooding in various parts of the country.
“A full crisis response has been in place in many parts of the country, protecting life and protecting property.
"With the coming storm conditions, things will worsen over the weekend, however. Storm force 10 winds are going to be in coastal areas tomorrow. So in coastal areas, people need to stay back, stay high and stay dry.
"We’re also going to see stormy conditions on land across the country and snowfall in places as well as thunderstorms, damaging gusts are possible anywhere. This means that trees could be down anywhere.
“Met Éireann will be updating and possibly escalating their warnings later on this afternoon,” Murphy added.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has asked all road users to “exercise caution” over the coming days. Motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists in areas affected by the orange warnings are advised to check local traffic and weather conditions before setting out on a journey.
Meanwhile, The Irish Coast Guard has asked the public not to put their lives, or the lives of our rescue teams in danger by venturing out to exposed coastal areas unnecessarily.