A Yellow Rain Warning remains in place in Northern Ireland on Monday, after heavy thunderstorms caused part of the promenade at Portstewart on the Co Derry coast to collapse on Sunday.
Motorists, many of them visitors to the scenic seaside town were shocked on Sunday about 5.30pm when a sudden thunderstorm erupted deluging the locality in heavy rain and causing flash floods which caused the road surface on the promenade to rise and water to surge out of drains.
Some drivers reportedly abandoned their vehicles while others were able to turn around and leave the area which was quickly becoming flooded.
The PSNI later advised the promenade had suffered structural damage and it has no been closed. It is expected to reopen by Friday, the PSNI said. They asked that people avoid the area as there is no access to vehicles or pedestrians.
Later on Sunday evening locals in Strabane, Co Tyrone, said a bolt of lightning struck O’Doherty’s coffin manufacturers shortly before it burst into flames.
A massive blaze ensued with videos and pictures of of the fire appearing on social media, with clips showing plumes of black clouds billowing out from the premises.
Yellow warning
The Northern Ireland Met office said the Yellow warning would remain in place for Monday as slow moving heavy, occasionally thundery, showers were expected to give a risk of flooding in the afternoon and early evening.
Yellow warnings , the lowest of three warnings, are issued when it is likely that the weather will cause some low level impacts, including some disruption to travel in a few places, the Met Office said.
However Met Éireann said the conditions which brought about the heavy downpour and electrical activity on the Antrim coast were not present in northern counties of the Republic, by Monday afternoon.
Meteorologist Matthew Martin said while there may be an occasional thunderstorm in the midlands “the ingredients” – including Cumulonimbus clouds and electrical activity – which caused the storm in Portstewart were not present.
Cumulonimbus clouds are associated with extreme weather such as heavy torrential downpours, hail storms, lightning and even tornadoes. Individual cumulonimbus cells will usually dissipate within an hour once showers start falling, making for short-lived, heavy rain. However, multicell or supercell storms contain many cumulonimbus clouds and the intense rainfall may last much longer.
Met Éireann’s forecast for Monday was one of showers including heavy showers, with the odd thundery downpour possible. Maximum temperatures of about 15 to 19 degrees in mostly light to moderate southwest or variable breezes.
On Tuesday, showery and rather cloudy conditions across the western half of the country will spread eastwards during the course of the day. The best chance of any sunny intervals is likely across the northeast of the island. Maximum temperatures of 14 to 18 degrees with moderate southwest to west winds, veering northwesterly later in the day.
The outlook for the coming days is for “a fair amount” of dry weather, but rain or showers at times. Temperatures from 16 to 20 degrees generally.
