Storm Austen: Orange weather warnings for six counties as Met Éireann forecasts intense rain across Ireland

Main Points

• A status-yellow rain and wind warning for Leinster and Munster comes into effect at 7pm on Thursday and will be in place until 10am on Friday
• Wicklow, Wexford and Dublin have a status orange rain warning in place from 2am until 8am Friday
• Counties Waterford, Cork and Kerry had an orange warning for rain in place from 10pm on Thursday until 5am on Friday

Key Reads

• Storm Austen: Council staff on industrial action to carry out emergency work as needed

James Cox -

6 minutes ago

Storm Austen to hit Ireland

Storm Austen is due to hit Ireland on Thursday evening.

Cloud will increase through the evening as wet and windy conditions spread northwards over the country as Storm Austen tracks to the south of Ireland.

Met Éireann has forecast heavy rain in Munster and south Leinster, spreading into Connacht and the rest of Leinster throughout the evening.

Localised flooding is possible, especially in Munster and Leinster.

Storm Austen will be followed by followed by Storm Boelo on Saturday.

The latter is forecast to coincide with high tides, increasing the risk of flooding from high waves and storm surges, particularly along the west and northwest coasts.

“With two weather events now expected, local response teams will be very busy throughout the bank holiday weekend,” said Keith Leonard, head of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management.