Preparations and planning have been taking place in Galway City for Storm Barra, with meetings of the council’s Weather Response Team today.
Met Eireann has issued a severe Status Orange weather warning for Galway on Tuesday, as Storm Barra is set to hammer the west and south in particular.
The OPW storm surge forecast for Galway Bay indicates that there will be a strong risk of overtopping, flooding, and water damage during Tuesday.
The high winds also bring with a strong risk of downed trees and flying debris, posing a risk to motorists and power lines, with outages expected as a result.
Met Eireann’s Orange wind alert states “On Tuesday and Tuesday night, due to Storm Barra, southerly winds, later becoming to northwesterly, will reach mean speeds of 65 to 80 km/hr with severe or damaging gusts of up to 130 Km/hr, possibly higher in coastal areas. Disruption to power and travel are likely.”
“High waves, high tides, heavy rain and storm surge will lead to wave overtopping and a significant possibility of coastal flooding”.
The Inter-Agency Co-ordination group of the council and emergency agencies services on Monday morning under the city’s severe weather plan.
The group, which comprises Galway City Council, An Garda SÃochána, Galway Fire and Rescue Service, Galway Civil Defence and the HSE will meet again this afternoon.
This will follow a further meeting of the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre at 2:30pm.
Public notification of all contingency arrangements for Storm Barra will be outlined in detail by the council this afternoon.
This will include arrangements for the deployment and collection of sandbags, potential road closures, car park closures, public advisories, and other relevant information.
A Status Red Marine Warning has also been issued for coastal waters off Galway and much of the south of Ireland.
During Tuesday winds are expected to reach violent storm force 11 from Roche’s Point to Valentia to Erris Head.
