Ireland braced for the first major storm of the season on Thursday as Met Éireann issued a number of status orange weather warnings for intense rain and wind.
Storm Austen is due to hit Ireland on Thursday morning and its impact will continue to be felt on Friday in some parts of the country. Counties Waterford, Cork and Kerry have an orange warning for rain in place from 10am on Thursday until 5am on Friday.
This warning will be extended to Counties Dublin, Wexford and Wicklow from 2am on Friday until 8am.
A status yellow warning for all of Ireland for rain and wind will come into effect at 7pm on Thursday and be in place until 10am on Friday.
People have been warned of flooding, disruption to public transport, and difficult travel conditions. Outdoor events may be impacted and people have been advised to be alert to debris and fallen trees or branches during the storm.
Local authority employees and other union members currently engaged in industrial action will work as required to deal with the impact of the storm.
Fórsa and Siptu, the two largest unions involved in work-to-rule as part of the public sector pay dispute, confirmed that there are specific clauses for automatic derogations from industrial action in cases where there is a serious threat posed to life or wellbeing. Where derogations need to be requested, they are almost always granted immediately.
Dublin City Council said its flood response team was “preparing for the potential impacts of heavy rainfall across the city and has put measures in place to respond quickly should localised flooding occur”.
Coastal communities will experience strong winds in advance of the storm’s arrival and while it moves past Ireland.
While the storm will mainly see heavy and persistent rain over much of the country, isolated thunderstorms will occur too.
Storm Austen is the first named storm of the 2026/2027 season.
Aoife Kealy, deputy head of forecasts at Met Éireann, said Storm Austen would develop in the Atlantic Ocean.
“It’s getting help basically from a strong jet stream. So it’s deepening as it approaches western Europe and the UK,” she said.
“As it passes to the south of us, it’s going to bring that strong or heavy rain and potentially some strong winds.”
She said the strongest would be felt in the UK.
Kealy said “even small differences in exactly how the low pressure will track are going to make a big difference to where the worst of the weather is on Thursday night and Friday”.
“It’s hard to pinpoint any one area just at the moment” where conditions may be worse, she said.
“There’s potential for heavy rain right across the country and potential for strong winds as well. The winds look likely to be in the south, the strongest of the winds, closest to the low [pressure].
“But we could see those strong winds everywhere and, as I said, we’re generally going to see a very wet night and even a wet start to Friday.”
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She advised people to stay up to date with the latest information from Met Éireann.
The name Austen was chosen by Met Éireann in tribute to Austen H Nagle, who became the first director of the Irish Meteorological Service when he was appointed in 1936.
On Friday, lingering wet and windy weather will clear eastern counties by around midmorning.
Sunshine and well-scattered blustery showers elsewhere will follow for the rest of the day, mainly affecting western counties.