MILDER WEATHER returns today, with temperatures expected to rise to between seven and 10 degrees, ruling out the likelihood of a white Christmas.
However, heavy rain this morning could lead to spot flooding in some places, and motorists are advised to drive with care. The rain will clear southeastwards later in the day, giving way to sunshine and scattered showers.
Tomorrow will be cold and frosty at first, but the day will be mostly dry and bright.
Mild weather is expected on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day, with dry conditions in most areas.
Icy conditions yesterday and over the weekend made driving hazardous in many places.
Three people were hospitalised after their car skidded into a canal between Cloghan and Shannonbridge in Co Offaly. One of the occupants of the car later died.
Clare County Council has meanwhile defended its decision not to grit the county’s roads on Friday night. There were a series of crashes on Saturday morning, one of which has left one woman fighting for her life in hospital.
The woman in her 40s was critically injured after her car skidded on ice and spun out of control before ploughing into a stone pillar. The accident happened at about 8.30am at Moymore near Tulla on the main Ennis to Scariff road. Emergency services had great difficulty getting to the scene because of the icy conditions.
As many as six accidents were reported on the same stretch of road at about the same time. A council spokesman said: “The council monitors the temperatures very closely and up to 7am on Saturday we had received no warning from Met Éireann or IceCast. We had gritters out on the previous two nights. There had been rain and cloud cover on Friday night and no warning of freezing temperatures.”
“We just don’t know what happened on Saturday morning. It must have been some sort of freak event. The first notification we received of the conditions was at 9.05am when we got three calls from the emergency services,” the spokesman added.
As the freezing conditions continued early yesterday an ambulance lost control and left the road at Clooney a short distance from the scene of Saturday’s accident. Two paramedics escaped injury. There was no patient on board at the time.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Co Cavan have confirmed they are investigating the theft of several roadside salt bins which were provided in the Cootehill area to be distributed by county council workmen on icy roads.
