Met Eireann has issued a rare Status Red weather warning for rain ahead of the arrival in Ireland of Storm Bert.
Storm Bert, which was officially named by Met Eireann earlier in the week, is set to batter large parts of Ireland over the weekend.
The Status Red weather warning was issued by Met Eireann on Friday morning. The rare alert applies to both counties Cork and Galway and will be active between midnight and 10am on Saturday.
Met Eireann says the expected impacts of the torrential rain in both Cork and Galway include: severe flooding; damage to homes and businesses as well as dangerous/treacherous travelling conditions.
Met Eireann has also issued a fresh Status Orange weather warning of rain for counties Waterford, Kerry, Clare, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim. This weather alert will be active between midnight and 10am on Saturday.
The State forecaster has also issued two separate Status Yellow weather warnings. The first of these weather alerts is for wind and rain and applies to Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Cavan and Monaghan. It will be active between 10pm on Friday and midday on Saturday.
The second Status Yellow weather warning is of snow-ice, rain and wind for Donegal. It will be active between midnight and 12pm on Saturday.
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