Flood risk from rain and high tides

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Residents and businesses – especially those in flood-risk areas – have been advised to prepare for possible flooding later tonight (Friday) through to Saturday morning.

Met Éireann have issued a Status Yellow rainfall warning for four counties – Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal – with accumulations of 40 to 50mms (almost two inches) possible.

They have also warned that in coastal areas, the combination of high seas and strong to gale-force southerly winds will combine to give a risk of coastal flooding.

The Met Éireann warning issued at noon yesterday is valid from 3pm today until 3pm tomorrow when the rains are expected to ease off, with a better day predicted for Sunday. A high-tide of 5.07 metres will also occur at 5.09am tomorrow morning, according to the Galway Port tide guide, further heightening the flood risk.

Galway City Council confirmed that their Weather Response Team have held meetings to prepare for any flooding event as a result of the heavy rainfall predicted by Met Éireann.

“This is a situation that we will be monitoring very closely and it may be necessary to close the car-parks in Salthill and also the section of roadway along the Prom,” a spokesperson said.
This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here.