‘Unprecedented’ flooding hits several counties ahead of Storm Ciarán
Further homes and businesses across a number of counties were on Tuesday grappling with significant damage caused by “unprecedented” flooding after incessant rain, as the threat of more heavy showers in coming days loomed.
Newry in Co Down was under water after the city’s canal broke its banks on Monday night, with several streets in the city centre left flooded on Tuesday. Eamonn Connolly, manager of Newry Business Improvement District Organisation, likened parts of Newry to a “lake”. “It’s certainly been unprecedented,” he said.
Businesses and homes in Carlingford, Co Louth, also reported damage to premises following flooding, and a bridge outside Riverstown collapsed amid rising water on the Cooley peninsula. Yellow warnings are in place for most coastal counties this morning.
Flooding in Ireland
- Humanitarian assistance for flood-hit households extended to Louth and Wexford: A humanitarian assistance scheme for flood-hit households has been extended to people living in counties Louth and Wexford as heavy rainfall continues to cause havoc around the country.
- Louth flooding: ‘We were part of the river ... we opened the back doors and let it run through’: “The message that has to go out of here is that the drains in Carlingford did not work”.
- Authorities warn of more disruption after heavy flooding hits Ireland’s east coast: Regions across the country were on Tuesday grappling with significant damage caused by flooding after a month of sustained rainfall, as the threat of more heavy showers in the coming days loomed.
- Ireland’s weather today: Yellow weather warnings are in place for many coastal counties this morning. Nationwide, Wednesday will be cloudy, dull and wet. A band of rain moves off northern counties while scattered showers move in across the country. Some will be heavy and squally for a time but they will clear away to the north later this afternoon followed by a mix of sunshine and isolated showers. Highs of 10 to 13 degrees in a fresh and gust southwest wind.
Israel-Hamas conflict
- Air strike on Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza leaves 50 dead: At least 50 people were reported to have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
- Emirates pressure on UN echoes deepening Arab dismay at lack of ceasefire in Gaza: The United Arab Emirates says it intends to continue to press the UN Security Council to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and will work to bridge differences between member states.
- ‘More Vietcong than Isis’: Hamas’s military tactics: For more than a decade, Israel’s military leadership grudgingly acknowledged one overriding trait in its Gaza enemy: Hamas knew how to bide its time.
The best from Opinion
- How far will Rishi Sunak’s government go to deny the slaughter in Gaza?: Looking at what is happening in Britain in the context of the ongoing destruction of innocent civilians in Israel and Gaza, I am left wondering how far Rishi Sunak’s administration will go in denying the obvious truth that what is now being done to the Palestinians in Gaza is as wrong and as barbaric as what Hamas did to innocent Jews and others in southern Israel on October 7th, writes Michael McDowell.
Top News Stories
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- Dublin Fire Brigade dealt with high volume of incidents on Halloween night: Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) said it was dealing with a high volume of reported incidents on Halloween night, with an average of one emergency call received every 70 seconds.
- ‘There was such relief’: Five rescued after building collapses in Co Mayo: Five people avoided serious injury when a pub collapsed in a Co Mayo village on Tuesday.
- Officials ‘assessing’ potential gaps in Irish regime of sanctions against Russia: Officials are currently assessing potential weaknesses in Ireland’s regime of sanctions against Russia, which a high ranking civil servant last week said were “unenforceable” in practice.
- Suspended sentence for sexual assault of au pair too lenient, Court of Appeal rules: A fully suspended sentence handed down to a man who cut off an au pair’s underwear and sexually assaulted her while she slept was too lenient, the Court of Appeal found as it sent the 40-year-old to jail for 2½ years.
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News from around the World
- Boris Johnson believed old people should be let contract Covid-19 to protect economy, inquiry hears: The UK was hit by “widespread failure” in its response to Covid-19, an official inquiry into the pandemic has heard, with Boris Johnson believing old people should contract the virus to protect the economy and wavering on whether to impose lockdowns.
- Woman shouting ‘You’re all going to die’ shot by police in Paris metro: aris police shot and critically wounded a woman wearing a hijab who was behaving in a threatening manner and shouted “Allahu Akbar” and “You’re all going to die” in a metro station on Tuesday morning, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said.
The Big Read
- ‘They’re very apart from us’: South Koreans sense unification with North is an increasingly distant prospect: On the roof of an observation post at Korea’s demilitarised zone (DMZ) lines of tourists peered through binoculars across the most heavily guarded border in the world. They were fixed on a North Korean watchtower in the distance, hoping to spot one of the guards inside or, better still, to catch a soldier stepping outside for a smoke, writes Denis Staunton in Seoul.
Culture and Life & Style highlights
- ‘Irish is a wonderful language, it sounds so musical, the more I hear it, the more I like it’: Mark Davies moved to Santry in Dublin with his wife, opera singer Tara McSwiney, and their two sons, on August 1st, 2023.They uprooted from Llantwit Major, near Cardiff in Wales, to move into his wife’s family home after she inherited it following her mother’s death a few years ago.
Today's Business
- Energy price cuts come into force for residential users: The vast majority of Irish households will see the benefit of falling energy prices in the coming days with companies rolling out reductions of between 10 and 30 per cent.
- McKillen jnr to sell majority hotels stake to British property group and Elliot: Paddy McKillen jnr and his business partner, Matt Ryan, have agreed to sell a majority stake in the Dean Hotel Group to British property group Lifestyle Hospitality Capital (LHC) and Elliott Investment Management, the New York alternative investment giant founded by billionaire activist investor Paul Singer.
- Sherry FitzGerald’s income rises 11% but CastleGate sale costs deliver a loss: Sherry FitzGerald, Ireland’s biggest estate agent, recorded a near 11 per cent increase in its revenues last year but posted a loss due to €3.6 million in once-off restructuring costs associated with the sale of the business to CastleGate Investments.
- Euro zone inflation falls but economy contracts: The euro zone economy shrank in the third quarter as 10 straight interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank (ECB) took their toll on demand, raising the prospect of recession across the bloc.
Top Sports news
- South Africa retained their crown thanks to defence, set-pieces and a little luck: The Rainbow Nation lustily celebrated the retention of their title as world champions as South Africa lifted the Webb Ellis trophy, the fourth time in their history and for the second occasion accomplishing that landmark in Paris, writes Gordon D’Arcy.
- Eileen Gleeson hails Ireland team as they secure promotion to Nations League top tier on ‘chaotic night’: Denise O’Sullivan’s late winner in Albania has secured promotion to the top tier of European football. Between April and July next year, the Republic of Ireland will compete in the Nations League proper, with World Cup winners Spain and European champions England two potential visitors to the Aviva Stadium.
Martyn Turner
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‘My wife, who I love and adore, has emotionally abandoned our relationship’
Sir, – Nowhere in Fintan O’Toole’s article about the Israel/Hamas war is there any mention of the elephant in the room (“Israel can take Gaza. But it cannot leave it”, Opinion, October 31st). Hamas has pledged to not just wipe Israel off the map but to eradicate its Jewish population.
How exactly is Israel to make peace with such an organisation? Perhaps we Irish are the last people to offer advice to the Israelis given that we are lucky enough to live in a state that spends more money on biscuits for its army than it spends on tanks and fighter jets. – Yours etc,
KARL MARTIN, Bayside, Dublin 13.
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