Cork likely to see further flooding as Met Éireann issues another rain warning

Stephen Porzio

Flooding in Cork was so severe this week that the Irish Defence Forces were deployed to the county.

Met Éireann has said that Cork is “likely” to see further flooding as it issued a new weather warning.

Earlier in the week, Storm Babet was named by the UK Met Office, with Met Éireann stating that it was expected to bring heavy rainfall to Ireland on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially across southern parts of the country.

This came to pass, with Cork in particular seeing “unprecedented” flooding, with several of its areas being described as “impassable”.

As a result, the Irish Defence Forces were deployed to the county on Wednesday to provide aid for the areas affected.

On Thursday morning, however, Met Éireann issued a further Status Yellow rain warning for Cork, as well as Kerry and Limerick.

Scheduled to be valid from 11pm on Thursday until 9am on Friday, it reads:

“Heavy bursts of rain or showers overnight and Friday morning coupled with waterlogged soils and high river levels is likely to lead to further localised flooding [and] dangerous travelling conditions.”

⚠️Status Yellow-Rain warning for Cork, Kerry, Limerick⚠️

Heavy rain/showers overnight & Fri morning coupled with waterlogged soils/high river levels is likely to lead to:

• Further localised flooding
• Dangerous travelling conditions

Warning details ➡️https://t.co/Xg3aMJlyuS pic.twitter.com/Dm0lUOEdQb

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 19, 2023

Cork likely to see further flooding as Met Éireann issues further rain warning

On top of this, the UK Met Office has also published a Status Yellow rain warning for all of Northern Ireland.

This is set to take effect between 3am on Friday and 9am on Saturday.

“Showers or longer spells of rain have the potential to lead to some disruption, particularly for eastern areas,” it states.

Meanwhile, the head of forecasting at Met Éireann has admitted that the forecaster may need “to do a little bit better” after complaints were raised over the lack of a Status Red warning issued for the south of the country during Storm Babet.

Speaking on RTÉ Morning Ireland on Thursday, 19 October, Met Éireann’s Eoin Sherlock explained why such a warning was not issued.

“There’s only one or two millimetres between an Orange rainfall warning and a Red. I think maybe there’s an education piece and ourselves at Met Éireann, maybe we have to do a little bit better in this area,” he said.

Main image via Twitter/CorkSafetyAlerts and Twitter/CorkCityCouncil