Several roads are blocked and flooded while houses remain without power this morning following the worst of Storm Betty.
Met Éireann issued an Orange warning in Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Waterford – where many people are waking up to damage and flooding.
Several people in the south and south-east have reported severe flooding and trees fallen overnight on roads.
#CorkFloods Flooding in Main Street, Carrigaline this evening. #StormBetty pic.twitter.com/tIadcRfdVJ
— Cork Safety Alerts (@CorkSafetyAlert) August 18, 2023
Road Safety Authority Spokesperson Sarah O'Connor has warned people take extreme caution when driving today.
“Make sure you don’t drive through floods,” she said.
“You have no idea how deep floodwaters can be, so if you come across a road that flooded, it's important that you don't continue further down that road.
“It's really important for motorists to obey the diversion signs and whatever warning signs are out there.”
#StormBetty Video from one of our followers of Weavers Point, Churchbay/Crosshaven this evening. pic.twitter.com/o4Pli2beXv
— Cork Safety Alerts (@CorkSafetyAlert) August 18, 2023
Storm Betty led to power outages last night mainly in parts of the south and south-east of the country, with pockets in other areas of the country too.
ESB crews will assess damage this morning and try to restore power as quickly as possible.
Meteorologist Alan O'Reilly has said the worst of Storm Betty has passed.
“By the time most people have woken up this morning the worst of storm basically will have cleared but obviously it will have been very rough overnight,” he said.
“You will have storm damage - possibly some trees down some flooding as well so people should take care of early this morning.”
fallen tree along usher's quay blocking traffic from passing 🌳🌀⛈️ #StormBetty pic.twitter.com/XVNkXmwIMm
— Róisín 💫 (@roro_b98) August 19, 2023
Mr O’Reilly said some counties may see more improvements than others throughout the day.
“Many other areas waking to bright spells, some sunny spells throughout the country this afternoon with just the odd shower,” he said.
“Winds will ease slowly it's morning - still a very breezy day, but nothing like the wind we've seen overnight.”
