The weather pattern that brought persistent rain and flooding to Ireland this week is over, Met Éireann has said.
Further rain is expected over the coming days, though the areas worst affected by recent flooding should be dry.
Met Éireann forecaster Holly O’Neill said it will be unsettled next week, but the places affected by rain will be in the north, west and south, which have largely escaped the recent downpours.
“We will see the winds come around to the westerly airflow that we are used to. That will keep the low-pressure systems away from the southeast and east. We will see weather more in line with what we should expect.
“We expect temperatures to get a little cooler towards the end of this week, but nothing, at this stage, that would merit a warning.”
Orange level rain warnings expired in counties Waterford, Wexford, Dublin and Louth on Friday without the flooding which occurred during Storm Chandra the previous week.
Since the beginning of the month 70mm of rain have fallen along the eastern seaboard on top of the rain which caused serious flooding during Storm Chandra, which occurred at the end of January.
The pattern from January 22nd to now has meant between three and four times the average amount of rainfall in counties from Waterford to Louth.
The latest downpours have caused significant damage in affected areas.
Owner of the Clontarf Baths in Dublin, Bobby Nolan, said the heavy rain and winds on Thursday night into Friday morning destroyed the popular leisure facility. He described it as “like a bomb site”.
Bobby Nolan, owner of the Clontarf Baths, surveys the damage after high tides and wave overtopping caused extensive damage to the facility. Video: Alan Betson
Though the Clontarf Road is regularly inundated during extreme weather events, the building of flood defences in the area is not expected to be completed until 2033. Previous schemes were abandoned because of objections from residents.
Independent TD Barry Heneghan has called on the flood defences to be fast-tracked to avoid a repetition of the events which led to the road, seaside park, cycle path and car parks all being flooded.
The heavy rain has caused the collapse of a section of Cruagh Road in the Dublin mountains, which South Dublin County Council says will take several weeks to restore.
On Thursday, high seas took away a significant chunk of the Laytown Pitch & Putt Club in Co Meath and added to coastal erosion, which has occurred over the last two winters.
A member of Laytown Pitch and Putt Club in Co Meath inspects the damage caused by recent wet and wild weather
In Waterford, the city and county council said “significant damage” had been done to the road network on Thursday night into Friday morning.
A wet week in Irish politics
Recent flooding has exposed significant delays in prevention measures countrywide. Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers criticised the “paralysis” that stems from the “culture of judicial reviews” which, he said, had delayed implementation of prevention measures.
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews suggested the State should apply to the EU Solidarity Fund to repair the recent damage. Last year, the fund paid €280 million to applicants.
Andrews said his office has been in contact with European Commission officials, who confirmed that the overall damage and recovery cost threshold for the Republic to qualify in 2026 is €2.5 million.
“The application must be submitted within 12 weeks since the beginning of the storm, so I would ask the relevant State authorities to now rapidly prepare an Irish application,” he said.