Ireland braced for the first big 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 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 10pm on Thursday until 5am on Friday.
This warning will be extended to 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.
Weather conditions for the Dublin City Marathon on Sunday are going to be blustery, Met Éireann meteorologist Gerry Murphy warned.
Murphy said it is going to be wet “everywhere” in the country on Thursday as rain spreads northwards. “People should be aware of that.”
Rain levels in those areas could be from 40mls to 60mls through the night.
“So, a very wet evening and night in store. Flooding is likely and that flooding is likely to be mainly surface flooding. Coastal flooding is not quite as likely on the south coast, because the winds will be blowing away, the main winds will be north-westerly so they’llnorthwesterlyfshore.”
Tides are not expected to be high so coastal flooding is not likely, he added.
River flooding is a possibility on smaller river catchments, especially on higher ground, but not as likely on the bigger catchments as there is still capacity in the rivers, as it has been quite a dry summer and not too much rain so far, he told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
“Surface flooding will be the greatest impact with regard to flooding and those counties along the south and the east coast will get the highest amounts.”
But he warned that there will be rain everywhere which was why the yellow level warning was in place for many areas especially across Munster, Leinster, possibly east Ulster could also get flooding.
Murphy said it will be very wet along the east coast on Friday morning, which could have an impact on work and school commutes.
The heaviest rain will be overnight along the east coast from 2am until 8am.
“So, certainly for rush hour, there is likely to be floods on many of the roads and it will be a difficult enough morning for rush hour tomorrow morning in the east and indeed in the south as well. The south will get a lot of rain overnight.”
Conditions will also be windy, with a yellow level wind warning for all of the country, with very high winds predicted along the east coast and south coast and at sea.
There will be “no real let up” for the weekend, he said, with a further band of wet weather on Saturday with the unsettled weather continuing into Sunday.
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”.
Storm Austen is the first named storm of the 2026/2027 season.
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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.