What can we expect from Storm Austen?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Ciara.

Seán Defoe (0:08)

Now, Met Éireann has issued a number of Status Orange weather warnings for intense wind and rain coming in overnight, and Status Yellow warnings coming in as well from 7 o'clock this evening, continuing into Friday morning and indeed over that bank holiday weekend as well. Local authorities preparing for flooding as heavy rainfall is anticipated with storm Austin hitting the country this evening. Joining us now to discuss this is Keith Leonard. He's the head of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management. Keith, how bad are you expecting tonight and tomorrow morning to be?

Keith Leonard (0:38)

Well, Sean, you would have seen that we have orange rainfall warnings in a place from Kerry along the southeastern coast and right up to Dublin. So really very intense rainfall across that southeastern part of the country.

And even in places like Carlow, Kilkenny, Leish, Kildare, you're going to see very heavy rainfall really in those areas. And river levels are going to come up very quickly right across the south and east region.

Seán Defoe (1:05)

It sounds like a recipe for flooding. Are there certain areas in particular you are particularly watchful for or have people standing by at?

Keith Leonard (1:12)

Well, local authorities right across that area and indeed right across the country, are on full alert and full standby. They've been working over the last number of days to kind of clear culverts and gullies. They're getting sandbags ready and to make them available to people who are in kind of known spots for flooding.

And also then they're working as well to kind of have crews on standby for trees down because as well as the rainfall, we've got kind of winds, high winds as well and trees and full leaf. So it probably wouldn't take as much force as normal to knock a significant number of trees in that area over tonight and tomorrow.

Seán Defoe (1:50)

OK, so people should be watching out or maybe plan to have the torch beside the bed this evening just in case.

Keith Leonard (1:55)

Absolutely. And we always advise people to charge their phone in advance of a storm. It's your lifeline connection to the emergency services. And we always say to people, don't second guess yourself. If you think you need help from the emergency services, call 999 or 112

Seán Defoe (2:12)

When it comes to, I suppose, are we going to see now a fairly significant winter of this? Because not only have we got Storm Austin rolling in tonight, another storm over the weekend, that certainly for the next four or five days, it looks as though we're going to have things pretty hot and heavy.

Keith Leonard (2:27)

Absolutely. I think right out until Tuesday, we've got Storm Bola now forecast for the north-western part of the country on Saturday.

And then we've got another rainfall event on Sunday into Monday as well. So really, unfortunately, it's going to be a very torrid bank holiday weekend, really very little let up right across the weekend. And look at it, as I say, we're back into storm season now. So I'd expect to see probably a number of those Atlantic storms across the season. And the jet stream is very active at the moment.

Seán Defoe (3:01)

Is it, are you expecting maybe a heavier winter in this sort of heavier winter, if you like, in this kind of El Nino year? Is that typically what we see?

Keith Leonard (3:09)

Yeah, I'm not sure if there's a direct connection that we can make. But definitely, I recall 2015-16, which I think was an El Nino winter as well. And again, I think we had 12 storms across that winter. So definitely, I think we're certainly hopeful that maybe it won't be that bad. But I think we have to plan for the fact that we're a very active winter here for this season.

Seán Defoe (3:33)

And when it comes to driving conditions, both this evening and overnight, a lot of people will be listening to this on their way home or will be getting ready to make their way home when that yellow warning comes in. What's the advice?

Keith Leonard (3:44)

So again, our advice is always the same. Slow down, expect that there could be fallen trees along the route that you're taking.

Give yourself extra time. A lot of people are travelling over the Bank Holiday weekend. The airports are travelling across the country. Give yourself extra time so you're not under pressure. And the final piece is, if you see a flooded road, do not attempt to drive through it. Unfortunately, our fire services are going to be called out to rescue people from cars. But we want to see as little of that as we possibly can over the weekend.