Power cuts, fallen trees, flooding, snow and 110km/h damaging blasts of wind are set to batter Ireland over the next few days due to two storms.
Met Eireann has issued weather warnings for large parts of the country as storms Dudley and Eunice make landfall.
The Government’s emergency response committee is in constant liaison with Met Eireann, while gardai and the Road Safety Authority are issuing warnings for the public to take safety precautions over the coming days.
Public transport services could be hit, while ESB networks told the Irish Mirror that “all resources are on alert”, and senior Met Eireann forecaster Gerry Murphy warned that the very wintry conditions will last throughout the weekend, even after the storms end.
Mr Murphy said: “Storm Eunice will be worse than Storm Dudley. It will be more vicious.”
Households were scrambling to tie down trampolines and bins today as Storm Dudley landed on Ireland around midday and created very wet conditions and strong gusts of wind, set to go through to the early hours of Thursday.
Met Eireann has issued a Status Yellow warning for the whole of the country, with winds gusting at damaging speeds of 110km/h in parts of Donegal and tides causing flooding along the western coast.
Dudley will move towards Scotland tomorrow, but as sub-zero temperatures fall to -2C on Friday, the worst is yet to come, according to Mr Murphy.
He said: “Storm Eunice is due to come at us from Thursday night. Unlike Dudley, this depression is moving to the south of us and then on towards Britain.
“Eunice will provide very strong winds and it will bring heavy rain, sleet, and snow, so there is a potential for lying snow, especially in Connacht and Ulster.
“This is worse than Dudley, in terms of potential for disruption. It will be more vicious.
“Snow could cause significant disruption [Friday] morning. Snow is always difficult to predict in Ireland because we are that cold of a country.
“Some places will get sleet and some will get snow, but it does look like some snow will lie in parts of Connacht and Ulster.
“There is a windy precipitation, generally, which is very hazardous from midnight [Thursday] right the way through to a good part of [Friday].
“It is going to be quite bad. There is a risk of travel disruption [Friday] morning with possibly severe winds in the south of the country, plus sleet and snow.
“Travelling in sleet and snow is not easy.”
Unfortunately, that is not the end of it because Gerry warned there will be very harsh conditions left in the wake of Storm Eunice.
He said: “Once it clears, we will see very cold showery conditions following behind it.
“So, because it’s going to stay cold, any snow that does fall, will be quite slow to melt.
“There will be some raw showers [Friday] and throughout the weekend.
“Be sure that all things are secured and watch out for falling branches and the potential for power cuts, especially in the west and north.”
A spokesperson for ESB Networks told the Irish Mirror: “Plans are in place for the two storms.
“Disruption is expected and we’re keeping an eye, in particular, on Storm Eunice.
“All resources are on alert and we will respond to alerts as and when they happen.”
Gas Networks Ireland is confident that disruption will not occur to gas supplies.
A spokesperson said: “It is unlikely to be impacted by adverse weather conditions.”
