Firefighters carried children on their backs during an evacuation of a flooded Kilkenny school on Monday as continued heavy rainfall led to damage to buildings and roadways in parts of the country.
Met Éireann has warned of the risk of further flooding as it issued weather warnings for 20 counties.
Emergency responders from Thomastown and Graiguenamanagh Fire Brigades were called to evacuate St Colmcille’s National School in Inistioge, Co Kilkenny due to flooding in the village on Monday.
Firefighters from Thomastown and Graiguenamanagh Fire Brigades assisting with the orderly evacuation of St. Colmcille's National School, Inistioge during flooding in the Village this morning. pic.twitter.com/KMCFK7HcPw
— Kilkenny County Council (@KilkennyNotices) October 23, 2023
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The firefighters also worked to pump water out of the premises following the floods.
Elsewhere, a grocery shop in the Ferrybank area of Waterford was also flooded.
The Ballycanvan Stream burst its banks in the Faithlegg area of Co Waterford after intense rain, leading to road damage.
Status Orange - Rain warning for Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford
Heavy & persistent rain with thundery downpours possible🌧️⛈️
Impacts:
• Flooding
• Dangerous travel conditions
• Poor visibility
Valid: 04:00 Monday 23/10/2023 to 01:00 Tuesday 24/10/2023 pic.twitter.com/N78urERVkr— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 23, 2023
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Several local routes were closed due to flooding.
There are rain warnings in place in six counties until 6pm, with the warning extending into the early hours of Tuesday in the others.
The national forecaster warned that the rain will be heavy at times with the chance of thunder, and there is a risk of flooding and difficult travel conditions.
A Status Orange rain warning is in place for counties Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford until 1am on Tuesday.
There will be heavy and persistent rain in these counties, with a risk of flooding, dangerous road conditions and poor visibility.
A Status Yellow rain warning is in place for counties Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, and Mayo until 6pm on Monday.
A Status Yellow rain warning for counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wicklow and Roscommon is in place until 1am on Tuesday.
The warnings come as towns and villages in the south east recover from the effects of Storm Babet, where unusually heavy rainfall led to homes and businesses being flooded.
Irish Rail said some services in Co Cork were delayed due to weather-related damage after the storm.
Met Éireann has defended its warning system in the wake of the flooding, and the Government has promised to offer increased support for businesses affected.
Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney is working on a proposal to bring to Cabinet on Tuesday, which would see two schemes on offer to businesses affected by the floods.
The first is the scheme currently in place, which offers an initial €5,000 and further support of up to €20,000 based on the scale of damage to businesses.
Mr Coveney told RTÉ Radio on Monday that this would be for places that had been affected by flooding, but not badly.
He said those amounts were not “appropriate” for badly-hit businesses, and a second scheme would offer around double the initial payment and “multiples” of the €20,000 after that – possibly more than €70,000.
Householders can access to relief through the Humanitarian Assistance Programme, administered by the Department of Social Protection.
Mr Coveney said that Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys would bring a proposal to Cabinet on Tuesday to increase the threshold in order to qualify for the means-tested scheme.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said “it’s clear that something significantly extra is required here now to enable the households to get back into their homes – many are in hotels at the moment – and to enable businesses get off the ground and their employees back working”.
“This was a climate event of a huge scale, which has really devastated the businesses in Midleton, community facilities in Glanmire, sporting facilities and households, in particular. Many people who just bought their houses, having them destroyed,” he said in Luxembourg.
“So there’ll be two schemes, the one for households and one for businesses. We’re looking at revising the existing schemes, we don’t believe they’re fit for purpose, and I think the interventions will have to be on a scale that we haven’t seen before.”
