TWO WEATHER warnings have been issued for 14 Irish counties as heavy rains and winds up to 90km are expected.
Irish weather body Met Éireann issued two Status Yellow warnings, from Thursday October 19 into the weekend.
The warnings come after Storm Ophelia, which battered Ireland earlier this week, leading to the deaths of three people as well as power outages and widespread disruption to travel and services across the country.
Heavy rains up to 50mm are expected to fall across counties Cork, Clare, Kerry Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow and Meath over a 24 hour period on Thursday.
From Friday into the weekend an Atlantic Depression is to travel east across the country, as south westerly winds travel north.
The weather authority has issued a second warning for the winds, as they said there is potential for mean wind speeds of 50 to 60km/h and gusts of 90 to 110km/h, especially in coastal counties.
The warnings come as experts warned Storm Brian could hinder efforts to restore power to thousands of people in Ireland when it arrives this Friday – less than a week after Hurricane Ophelia.
Bernadine Maloney of the ESB warned that Friday’s low pressure system could hamper efforts to get the worst affected parts of Ireland back up and running.
She said: “As we go beyond today it is premises by premises, field by field and tree by tree, which is going to be a lot slower progress.
“Good progress has been made but the more difficult, rural and isolated areas will remain affected beyond today.
“We were fortunate yesterday and the crews had a better day than we would normally experience straight after a storm.
“It was a little bit of retrieve but I believe Storm Brian is coming our way Friday and I know Met Éireann have been talking about it, I don’t know the severity of that but we will be looking at it."
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