"Cold Blow and the rainy night"

Examiner: "Worst storm in 25 years? looms
Se?n McC?rthaigh

This song title from a Planxty album of the seventies doesn't do justice to the weather here in the West of Ireland right now!
This report was taken from the Irish Examiner......

THE most severe Atlantic storm to hit Ireland in over a quarter of a century is expected to pass over the country later today with warnings that it could result in major structural damage in all regions and flooding along the west coast.

Gusts of up to 100mph have been forecast for later tonight with the north-west likely to bear the brunt of the bad weather.

Following Sunday night?s storm which claimed the lives of 13 people across Europe, the country is bracing itself for another period of extreme weather over the next 24 hours.

Met ?ireann yesterday issued a severe weather warning to alert the public to dangerous conditions likely to be caused by extreme gales and driving rain.

Weather forecasters claimed there was an increased risk of flooding in all areas, particularly along the Atlantic coast, due to a combination of storm force winds, heavy rain and spring tides. They have also warned the public that the force of the gales could bring down ESB power lines in many areas as well as causing structural damage to trees and buildings.



Motorists are being advised to avoid unnecessary journeys from this afternoon when the storm will reach the south-west coast before passing over the rest of the country.

A Met ?ireann spokesperson, Pat Clarke, said violent winds up to Force-11 could be reached in exposed parts of the west and north later tonight with a high risk of structural damage. All parts are likely to have gusts of 70-80 mph during the storm which will last until the early hours of tomorrow morning. South to south-west winds will reach 30-40mph this morning with gusts of 50-70mph in some coastal areas.

The storm will intensify later this afternoon with wind speeds reaching an a"