A MAJOR warning has been issued to truck drivers after one motorist had a lucky escape while navigating the treacherous road conditions caused by Storm Agnes.
Very strong and damaging gusts have ripped through the country since the early hours of this morning, leading to coastal flooding, power outages and fallen trees.
One lorry driver in Co Wexford narrowly escaped injury after the high-sided vehicle he was travelling in toppled over due to high winds near Ferns earlier today.
Carlow Weather’s Alan O’Reilly warned: “High sided vehicles need to take care with sudden gusts a feature of Storm Agnes thankfully the driver was OK in this incident that occurred near Ferns in Wexford today.”
And it doesn’t look like Strom Agnes will be clearing off just yet.
The forecasters added: “Many asking if Storm Agnes is nearly over, well she just recorded the strongest gust of the day in the last hour with 117kmh gust at Sherkin Island on South coast and sustained winds of 83kmh at Roches Point which is red level criteria on the coast.
“Few rough hours ahead yet.”
Elsewhere, firefighters were called to the Kilbarrack area of Dublin after menacing winds caused a huge tree to smash into two cars.
The tree brought down electricity cables as it fell, with the Dublin Fire Brigade working tirelessly to make the scene safe.
It comes after a pensioner was rescued from his home after he was trapped inside by a fallen tree.
Donal Sullivan was shocked after hearing a big bang outside his property this morning.
The incident happened in Blackrock, Cork – as the county was battered by strong winds and heavy rain.
Donal rang Cork Fire Brigade after realising he couldn’t leave his home.
Emergency services rushed to the scene with tree-cutting equipment, and Donal was freed from the house.
The storm also managed to rip the roof off a building after it made landfall with damaging 117kmh gusts.
The terrifying weather-related incident happened in Youghal, West Cork, this morning.
Meanwhile, Met Eireann’s Andrew Doran-Sherlock warned that while Status Orange Weather Warnings are expected to expire at 7pm this evening for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary and Waterford conditions will remain hazardous under Yellow Warnings until 12am Thursday.
He said: “These are quite treacherous conditions out there, even in counties that just have a Yellow Warning. It is on the higher end of Yellow, so do take care.
‘COASTAL FLOODING’
Andrew added: “It will be stormy for a time in the east, south and southwest with the potential for severe and damaging gusts, especially in the southwest and along the south coast.
“And these strong onshore winds and high seas will bring the risk of coastal flooding in eastern and southern areas.”
Looking ahead at tonight, the forecaster said: “Tonight it will stay windy for a time, especially in the north and east with strong and gusty southwesterly winds.
“Gradually easing as Storm Agnes clears towards Scotland.
“Outbreaks of heavy rain in the northeast will give way to a mix of clear spells and scattered showers.
“Then tomorrow, it will be dry in many areas, to begin with, with sunny spells, but it will be cloudier in the south with patchy rain and drizzle.
HEAVY FALLS
“And south to southwest winds will freshen as a band of rain travels across the Atlantic during the morning.
“The rain will spread eastwards over the country through the day with some heavy falls followed by scattered showers.”
Households across the country felt the impact of Storm Agnes as it battered Ireland – with Cork badly hit.
Over 1,700 households in Bandon were impacted with a further 1,500 went off grid in Macroom.
Some 1,400 homes were without power in Cloonlough in Mitchelstown whilst 600 more were impacted in Kanturk.
Other outages were reported in Dublin, Limerick, Kilkenny, Kerry, Galway, Kilkenny and Louth.
ESB Networks said sorry as engineers spent difficult hours trying to restore the network to normal.
POWER PROBLEMS
A spokesperson said: “ESB Networks is aware that some customers are experiencing power outages due to Storm Agnes.
“Please rest assured, once it’s safe to do so our dedicated teams will be working to restore electricity supply as quickly and safely as possible.”
Two flights had to be diverted from Kerry Airport to Dublin.
And Cork Airport urged passengers to “exercise due caution” when making their way there.
That came as some flights had difficulty landing at the facility and had to divert to Dublin Airport.
Ferry sailings from Rosslare Europort were also hit with cancellations and delays.
TORNADO WARNING
Alan O’Reilly also earlier warned how the country was under a Level Two alert by European storm boffins Estofex.
He said the warning meant there was “a small risk of local tornadoes from Storm Agnes.”
And he added: “These are very difficult to forecast and can be small and very short lived but worth sharing the information.”
Storm Agnes was named by Met Éireann in honour of a West Cork scientist.
Agnes, the first of 21 storm names, refers to Agnes Mary Clerke.
Read more on the Irish Sun
She was a Skibbereen-born astronomer who lived on Bridge Street in the town.
A shopfront there still bears the family name.
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