BATTERED
15 sailing students are rescued from sea as Storm Brian brings more f loods and winds
HEAVY rain and violent 130kph gusts battered the country yesterday, just five days after ex-hurricane Ophelia.
Storm Brian arrived early yesterday morning causing flooding in Limerick city with the River Shannon overflowing at high tide. The flood barriers erected along the quays before Storm Ophelia remained in place and held until the water receded with low tide.
One resident of Mill Road, Corbally, Tom Bolger, could only look on as the River Shannon swept into his home.
‘We got three inches of water in right across the house. Unfortunately it was the tide and the wind together that did it,’ Tom said. ‘After it went out we started to mop up.’
In the east of the country, a group of around 15 children were rescued from the sea off Dún Laoghaire as the weather got worse around noon. All of the sailing students were rescued but some of their boats were abandoned. Videos on Twitter showed empty dinghies crashing against the pier.
Galway city came close to experiencing flooding at some properties but the temporary flood defences close to the Spanish Arch landmark, left over from Storm Ophelia, held up, according to RTÉ.
The Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare were closed with the website urging people not to visit due to ‘unsafe and extremely dangerous’ conditions. However, the popular tourist site is open again today as normal.
Iarnród Éireann reported delays of 15-30 minutes on several of its lines due to speed restrictions in place as a precautionary measure to ensure safety.
Shannon and Cork Airports advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling to the airport. However, no major issues arose due to Storm Brian.
According to the ESB, 22,000 people are still without power due to ex-hurricane Ophelia, with a small number affected by Storm Brian.
Northwest gales and significant gusts made for windy conditions along the west coast in the morning, extending inland to the rest of the country throughout the day with heavy rain in the east of the country.
Met Éireann had issued a status orange wind warning for Atlantic coastal counties and status yellow wind and rainfall warnings for the rest of the country. The worst of the storm hit the West and South West with the weather warnings in place until 9pm last night.