Thousands of homes were without power this morning after Storm Gerrit brought severe and strong winds to parts of the country last night.

A Status Orange rainfall warning for the south of the country has now been lifted; however, a Status Yellow Thunderstorm warning is due to remain in place across western areas until 9pm tonight.

Met Éireann said there will be scattered thunderstorms with lighting and potentially hailstones in Munster, Connacht and Donegal throughout the day.

Separately, a yellow rainfall warning is due to remain in place in Clare, Kerry, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo until 6am tomorrow morning.

The forecaster said southwest to west winds will be “strong and gusty” at times.

Flooding

Meanwhile, a combination of spring tides, large waves and strong winds may result in some coastal flooding.

“Squally showers” may also lead to localised flooding.

Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather told Newstalk that this morning will bring the highest flooding danger.

“We have seen very high rainfall totals in the last few days and also some coastal flooding,” he said.

“Especially early this morning, we could see some more coastal flooding with some high spring tides and those strong westerly winds along the west coast and the south coast.”

Power

Last night, people living in five counties along the south, southwest and southeast of the country were urged to remain indoors due to the storm.

This morning, around 2,000 homes were without power; however, the ESB said that number is expected to fall throughout the morning as crews deal with any localised faults that may have occurred.

The largest number of outages were recorded in South Wexford where around 1,000 homes were without power this morning.