The southeast was once again hit badly by overnight flooding on Friday and Saturday morning as a result of heavy rainfall.
Parts of Wexford county remain underwater on Saturday following a deluge, with Bridgetown and Our Lady’s Island among the worst affected.
Wexford County Council warned that the road in Our Lady’s Island is currently impassable due to flooding and are advising the public “to avoid the area”. The GAA pitch on Our Lady’s Island is also swamped.
The village itself is to be avoided due to a landslide and road blockage. The lake has also flooded on to the road past the petrol station heading towards Carne.
Bridgetown, which was badly hit by flooding before Christmas, has once again fallen victim.
In Kilkenny, parts of Thomastown remain under water. The flood-prone quay remains blocked, while water levels in nearby Inistioge are starting to recede.
Green Party Senator Malcolm Noonan, a former minister of State who is from Kilkenny, said the flooding has caused “a lot of heartbreak and hardship”. “Great credit to the local authority, crews, emergency services and communities who are rallying to help neighbours in need,” he said.
He spoke in the Seanad this week about using “nature-based solutions”, he said. “It may not work in every case but it’s work that could be done while communities are waiting on OPW schemes.”
Aontú councillor Jim Codd, who lives in the village, said it was “another terrible night in Bridgetown, many roads remain impassable right across the area”.
Mr Codd added: “To all those that have worked through the night and into the morning trying to save homes and businesses, a very, very sincere thank you.
“You know you have a great team when the fire brigade crew are joined by lifeboat volunteers. A big thank you also to the coast guard and our own council crews that are working all night.”
In Carlow, the council is advising those living close to the river Burrin to move all their belongings to higher ground as water levels are rising.
A council spokesperson said: “[We] are now advising people living along low-lying parts of the Burren river which have been prone to flooding in the past to move valuable items to upper floors and be prepared.
“We are doing everything we can but we are now approaching record river levels and rising with more rain on the way.”
In the village of Ballymurphy, roads in and out are closed due to severe surface damage from flooding.
Council roads crews are responding to flooded and closing roads where required and are asking road users “not to pass road closed or road flooded signs, do not drive into flood waters”.
Roads that are closed include Ballincarrig Road, Quinnagh, St Mullins to Tinnahinch, and Drummond to St Mullins, with reconstruction needed in some cases.
Roads near Tullow and Bagenalstown are also closed, with some requiring reconstruction.
Waterford County Council is advising motorists to beware of surface water and pooling around the city and county roads, particularly the east of the county.
Passage East to Dunmore East roads are experiencing flooding and are impassable while the inner ring road in the city is closed due to flooding, with diversions in place.
Pumping and clean-up operations were in place in many parts of Leinster, with events, including horse racing at Leopardstown, postponed or cancelled.
Yellow warnings for rainfall in eastern, northeastern and southeastern counties expired late on Friday night, with none in effect as the St Brigid’s Day bank holiday weekend began.
However, Met Éireann warned that after a week of persistent rain, soils are saturated or waterlogged and rivers are “at or above bank-full conditions”.
Any further rainfall over the weekend is expected to result in river and surface-water flooding in the east of the country, a meteorologist’s note on Friday said.
The forecaster advised people to keep updated on their local weather conditions and communications from their council.
Racing at Leopardstown has been cancelled following heavy rain overnight, with an early-morning inspection showing the track unfit to host the day’s card.
Tánaiste Simon Harris, speaking in Zagreb at a meeting of the European People’s Party, the European bloc to which Fine Gael belongs, said Ministers would hold a special Cabinet committee on floods and storms in the next week.
“I hope that’s an opportunity to look at things like flood forecasting, and also look at how we can speed up the delivery of flood rescues,” he said.
He defended Met Éireann amid criticism of its decisions before Storm Chandra, but added that a rethink could be helpful. “I think the more information we can put into the public domain in relation to flood forecasting and information about river levels alongside rain warnings, I think would be very, very helpful,” he said.
“Because if we’ve learned anything over the last few days, a relatively small amount of rain can actually cause very significant damage if the river is high.”
He added that the Government was “responding in real time” to flood damage, and that it would “be there to help with the clean-up costs and the repairs costs in relation to homes and businesses”.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) met on Friday to continue its oversight of the flood response, with further plans to meet through the weekend.
It urged members of the public to remain cautious, and those affected by flooding to contact their local authority’s emergency response team. An emergency response payment is available to those living in residences impacted, while the Emergency Humanitarian Flooding Scheme is available to businesses and organisations.
The NECG also said a subgroup was meeting to prepare for necessary discharge from Poulaphouca Reservoir, the largest artificial reservoir in Ireland, which provides water to much of the Dublin area.
Weather was due to become drier from Saturday through to Sunday and the first half of Monday. Met Éireann said that rain will be lighter and patchier where it appears, with some bright or sunny spells especially on Sunday.
Monday, a bank holiday, may see further rain, however.