Thousands of homes and businesses in Ireland were left without power on Saturday as Storm Claudia swept across the country, bringing heavy rain and flooding. The ESB reported fewer than 2,000 properties were affected by 1.45pm, with crews responding to outages since Friday. A spokesman described the impact on electricity infrastructure as 'modest'.
Status orange and yellow rain warnings were in place for several counties, including Dublin, Wexford, and Wicklow, until Saturday morning. Met Eireann warned of 'significant' flooding and hazardous travel conditions. Dramatic flooding was reported in Portarlington, on the border of Laois and Offaly, despite no rain warning for those areas.
Fallen trees blocked roads in parts of the country, and social media footage showed sea foam being whipped ashore at Loughshinny, Dublin, and Bray, Co Wicklow. Stena Line cancelled some ferry services on Friday due to adverse weather.
Keith Leonard, national director for Fire and Emergency Management, said local authorities had been preparing since Thursday. He noted that flood risk would persist after warnings lifted, with fallen leaves clogging drains as a 'complicating factor'.
In Northern Ireland, a yellow rain warning was in effect for counties Armagh and Down until noon Saturday. Irish deputy premier Simon Harris expressed frustration over delays in delivering flood defence schemes, stating that communities were waiting too long for protection. He urged faster infrastructure delivery to build resilience against climate change.
