Met Éireann has issued rainfall warnings for several counties, including status orange warnings for Waterford and Wicklow.
The orange rainfall warning for these two counties will be in effect from 3am on Thursday until 3am on Friday.
Waterford and Wicklow will experience “spells of very heavy rain falling on already saturated ground, combined with high river levels and high tides”.
Localised flooding, river flooding and difficult travel conditions are expected in both counties, according to Met Éireann.
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A status yellow rain warning will be in effect for Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Wexford, Monaghan and Tipperary from 3am on Thursday until 3am on Friday.
These counties are also likely to experience flooding and difficult travel conditions.
Several rivers including the Liffey, the Nore, the Barrow and the Slaney already have very high water levels and these are expected to rise further on Wednesday and Thursday.
Wicklow County Council and Waterford County Council have advised members of the public to take extra caution in the coming days.
A number of roads are closed in Wicklow, following storm damage in recent days. The council has advised that more roads may be closed in the coming days.
Motorists have been urged to allow extra travel time, reduce speed and not attempt to drive on roads that are closed.
“Our teams remain vigilant, monitoring the situation to assess potential impacts in the county, and in particular for the recently flood-affected areas,” a statement from Wicklow County Council said.
“We remain ready to respond to the ongoing flooding situation as issues may occur. Repair work is still ongoing around the county, to damaged roads, pipes and manholes. We continue to engage with business owners and residents.
“Requests from the public for sandbags are responded to following assessment of need and subject to availability of stock of sandbags.”
Dublin City Council is “monitoring river levels and coastal conditions closely, to ensure appropriate responses as required”, a statement said.
Car parks along the coast at Sandymount and Clontarf remain closed to “protect against possible wave overtopping”.
The cycle lane at Clontarf, the Eden Quay boardwalk and the flood gates along the river Dodder will also remain closed until further notice as a precautionary measure.
How to get information on flooding risks
So how do I know that?
Speaking on the way into Cabinet on Wednesday morning, Tánaiste Simon Harris said there will be “significant rainfall” from late on Wednesday into Thursday and Friday.
Harris said senior Ministers held an “important conversation” on Tuesday night about interim works that can be put in place to mitigate the impact. Regarding permanent flood relief schemes, he acknowledged that communities are looking for “what more can be done in the here and now”.
There will be more engagement next week on flood warning systems against the backdrop of a “significant difference between a yellow and red weather warning” for rain when rivers are low or high, he said.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group met again on Tuesday to “continue to assess the flooding situation and prepare for the risk of further flooding this week”.
“All relevant departments, agencies and local authorities are on alert for difficult conditions over the coming week that may result in flooding in some areas,” a statement from the group said.
“They are working to put in place measures to mitigate the impact of further rain, and to ensure readiness to respond to any flooding incidents.”
There are currently no weather warnings in place, but Met Éireann has issued a weather advisory for Ireland.
The forecaster said “spells of heavy and persistent rainfall will continue through the week”, particularly in southern and eastern counties.
“Flooding is likely due to a combination of already saturated ground, high river levels and high tides,” a statement said.
Met Éireann’s Andrew Doran-Sherlock said people “really need to pay attention to what the weather conditions are and what river gauge data is”.
The meteorologist told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland “local authorities will have the best guidance because they’ll have a good idea of the response times of the rivers in their areas”.
“It’s important to note that even when it’s not raining there are some delayed responses in some rivers and catchment areas, so the risk of flooding doesn’t necessarily stop just because the rain has stopped, there can be delayed responses.”
Doran-Sherlock said more heavy rain is on the way, bringing a risk of further flooding.
“We’ve got high river levels, somewhere at bank full or above, and at this stage any amount of any further rain or showers could lead to larger impacts.
“So, especially as we head into tomorrow with further heavy rain and with strengthening easterly winds for onshore coastal areas around high tides, there’s the risk of coastal flooding.”
Doran-Sherlock said rain will be heaviest and most frequent in the coming days in the south, southeast, east and northeast. He said many of these areas “have already had such unusually large accumulations for the time of year, and that’s really continuing through Thursday night and Friday as well”.
“There will be some significant accumulations in places. It looks like it will ease a bit on Saturday. There’s a bit of uncertainty in the exact details.
“As it currently stands, Sunday is looking like the driest day of the week, but really, as we head into next week, there isn’t quite a let up. It’s still going to be dominated by low pressure.”
Keith Leonard, from the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, said “absolutely every engineering solution and every kind of interim measure” is being taken to deal with the record-breaking levels of water in river catchments around the country.
“What we’re looking at, I think, today and particularly into tomorrow is difficult conditions across that eastern region. I think the Nore, the Barrow, the Slaney and the Liffey catchments are going to see very high levels right across this evening and into tomorrow,” he told Morning Ireland.
“We’re in a very unusual situation now, where even rainfall below the warning thresholds can have an impact across the rivers and sometimes the rainfall, the impact lags behind the rainfall, so you could have impacts right up until Friday.”
Leonard said councils in areas that have been less affected by the weather are moving equipment to places with greater need.
There is a co-ordinated response, particularly in Dublin and southeastern areas, where local authorities are meeting with each other on a regular basis to co-ordinate their operations, he said.
People are advised to follow the latest weather updates on Met Éireann’s website and to track their local river levels on the OPW’s Water Level website.
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