Donegal’s Storm Dudley wind warning downgraded

The weather warning for Donegal for winds from Storm Dudley has been downgraded from orange to yellow.
Met Éireann has issued a status yellow wind warning for Ireland with westerly winds associated with Storm Dudley reaching mean speeds of 50 to 65km/h with damaging gusts of 80 to 110km/h. The winds will be stronger on exposed coasts and on high ground. The forecaster says a combination of high tides and strong winds will lead to flooding on exposed coasts. The warning will be in place from noon to 11.30pm on Wednesday.
The UK Met Office has put an amber wind warning in place for Antrim and Derry for strong and potentially disruptive winds from 2pm until midnight on Wednesday.
Storm Dudley is to be followed by Storm Eunice on Thursday night and Friday.
A status yellow, wind, rain and snow warning has been issued for Ireland and will be in place from 1am to 3pm on Friday.
The storm is expected to bring very strong winds and falls of heavy rain, sleet and snow. Some disruption is likely along with a possibility of coastal and spot flooding.

Donegal County Council has been putting preparations in place ahead of Storm Dudley.
Officials from the council have been involved in meetings with the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management ahead of the weather events.
Civil Defence personnel placed sandbags in Donegal Town on Tuesday in flood-prone areas.

The council’s director of emergency services Garry Martin said the downgrading of the weather warning for Donegal is a positive sign as the early forecasts had caused concerns about flooding.

Weather: Met Éireann issues warnings as Storm Dudley makes presence known

“The challenge obviously we have in this part of the world is that when certain conditions come together we have to be mindful that we are prone to flooding events,” he said.
He said the predictions have given the council confidence that “we are probably not looking at a situation as bad as we might otherwise be”.
He said the deployment of sandbags in Donegal Town was a precautionary measure “in the event that the forecast was slightly wrong and then we did need to respond”.
“My instinct this time is that it is less of a risk but we can’t take those chances.”

The council is expecting an update on Wednesday on the conditions expected to be brought by Storm Eunice.
“The way it is presenting it looks like quite strong winds across the island but much more so in the southerly half,” Mr Martin said.
“The risk in the northern half of the island, particularly in the wider north-west region, is for precipitation possibly as sleet or snow. It could be significant, it might not be significant, but we will know better today and into tomorrow.”