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Updated at 8.20pm
STORM DESMOND HAS hit the north and west coast of Ireland bringing torrential rain and strong winds.
Met Éireann issued a status red weather warning earlier for Connacht, Donegal, Clare and Kerry, along with other warnings for several parts of the country. Authorities are advising the public to avoid nonessential travel to the affected areas.
Incessant falls of torrential rain are expected overnight and for all of Saturday as Storm Desmond hits the country. As much as 70mm of rain is expected to fall over this period, and even more on higher ground, the forecaster said.
The ‘red alert’ warning kicked in at 6pm tonight and lasts until 3am on Sunday morning.
Desmond is already causing trouble:
Roads and rail
Drivers are asked to exercise caution as there will be increased surface water on the roads and also a risk of trees and cables falling down.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is advising motorists to check forecasts and traffic updates before setting out on a journey.
“In extreme weather conditions it is best to avoid making a journey by road unless absolutely necessary,” the authority said.
If driving in such conditions is unavoidable be prepared. The golden rule is drive with care and caution – expect the unexpected.
The RSA also has this advice for driving in flooded conditions:
Irish Rail says services are running on all routes and the company will be providing updates all weekend:
Flights
There have been reports of planes being forced to abort landings and circle around due to the adverse conditions, with airports advising travellers to check with their airline about the status of their flights. Some flights have also been cancelled.
Electricity
Already, hundreds of homes are without power.
ESB Networks has said it is worried about gale force winds and urged customers to get in touch about any faults:
Storm Desmond nationwide
Though the status red warning is only in place for Connacht, Donegal, Clare and Kerry, status orange and yellow warnings are in place across the country.
The National Co-ordination Group for Severe Weather Emergencies met yesterday and this afternoon to discuss a response to the storm.
The group believes the level of rainfall will give rise to potentially severe local floods which may block roads in some areas.
“The combination of high winds and very heavy rainfall may give rise to very dangerous conditions and the public are advised to monitor the weather forecasts and heed public information advice for their specific area,” a statement from the group read.
Non-essential travel in the affected areas should be avoided. Where roads become flooded, conditions may be extremely hazardous and motorists are advised to approach flooded roads with extreme caution, as flood waters may be stronger and deeper than anticipated.
Local authorities are monitoring the situation and response arrangements are in place to deal with flood emergencies and to coordinate with An Garda Síochána and the HSE to deal with the anticipated impact of forecast rainfall and high winds this evening and tomorrow.
The National Co-ordination Group, with OPW and ESB, will continue to monitor the river levels as some rivers are expected to flood, with this very heavy rainfall coming on top of a wet month of November.
Be careful on the coast
The Irish Coast Guard is calling for people to use common sense and stay away from headlands, piers and cliffs that produce heavy spray.
The spray can be replaced by a life-ending wave in a blink of an eye.
“Before the storm gathers the Coast Guard is preparing to undertake a long range mission out to the southwest to medevac a critically ill crewman off a merchant vessel before the big seas hit. Best of luck,” the Facebook post concluded.
Incessant falls of heavy rain overnight and for all of Saturday. Accumulations in excess of 70mm expected, with greater totals on higher ground. Valid from 6pm tonight to 3am Sunday morning.
Southwest winds with mean speed of 55 to 75 km/h will gust 100 to 120 km/h. Winds will be strongest for coastal areas. Valid from 9am today to 6pm Saturday.
Incessant falls of heavy rain overnight and for all of Saturday. Accumulations of 50 to 70mm expected. Valid from 9pm tonight to 3am Sunday morning.
A Limerick City and County Council spokesperson said: “Spot flooding is considered likely due to the volume of rain that is forecast to fall on already saturated ground. We are advising property owners in flood prone locations and motorists to exercise vigilance during the period.”
Southwest winds with mean speeds of 50 to 65km/h will gust 90 to 100km/h. Valid from 3pm today to 9pm on Saturday.
Heavy rain tonight and all day Saturday. Rainfall totals of 30 to 50 mm. Valid from midnight tonight until midnight Saturday.
Originally published 10.19am
- With reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
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Skys days are numbered. Losing out on Premier League and Champions League rights to BT Sport. With the emergence of Netflix and other websites, no one is willing to pay for Sky Movies anymore.
Realistically it’s either SKY or UPC(Virgin). If most people had the choice and money wasn’t an issue you’d have SKY for Tv and Virgin for broadband. The SKY TV interface has always been faultless in my opinion and much smoother than UPC. If SKY had high speed broadband and weren’t piggy backing on Eircom’s lines SKY would dominate the market in Ireland.
Hardly. The majority of people don’t have broadband speeds necessary for on demand Netflix. Not to mention that the Netflix library is not great. I have Netflix and Sky. They are complimentary services imo. Netflix for when I want something specific to watch, but I use sky for the majority of my tv viewing. Nobody should be using Sky movies though. It’s a ridiculous expense for a bad selection
Anyone who pays full whack for sky is crazy!it probably costs approx €200 per month if you add in bt sports/setanta/lfc tv/mutv/Chelsea tv/boxnation aswell as the complete sky package.openbox v8s cost me €160 for the 1st year and only €70 a year after that
Eventually these sort of premium cable packages will go under but never underestimate how slow the mass audience is to change.
I mean, Xtra Vision and video rental still exists!
You’re being ripped off even at that, £15 a year through theukguy’s server on any openbox/dreambox etc
On demand content is very poor for new movies.
They didn’t lose out on premier league
Was paying UPC €160 a mth for TV and broadband for a complete package of all tv, movies and sports… on top of ur TV licence.. got an android box.. problem solved €44 a mth on broadband…
Which Android box did you get and what stations do you receive?
@christine.. its very difficult to get a seamless stream of live TV though on it. Dnt get me wrong, I love my android box and use it for tv shows without adds all the time and for movies too… but getting a reliable stream to watch soccer can be very frustrating.
Phoenix started using premier league pass. It’s not skipped or buffered on me yet.
I have an mxq box, there’s a new t8 box I think it’s called comin out and il be upgrading to that.. I bought it from go gadgets.. they come preloaded with all necessary apps/add ons.. ya can subscribe to Ntv for €14.99 garuantees a reliable stream and it’s basically a full sky package of all channels we done a 3 day trial an it worked perfect so considerong signing up its month to month ya dont have to sign into any contract, we’ve had the box a few months now we nearly always seem to find a decent link for the footie but i agree it can get frustrating the more ya play around an try different links ya get to know the good ones.. I use showbox and genesis mainly for shows an films, and got the ivue programme guide and it opens ya up to every live channel, even more sports options and links them to the add on, it probably sounds like gibberish what I’m writing here now but if ya have the box ya wil have all the above.. I really hope they stay around working cause the price of tv packages is absolutely scandalous now!
Sky/siteserve =redacted. I.d rather paint a wall and watch it dry then give that cant a penny.
Squeaky Bum time for Sky. Far better alternatives out there.
Like who? They’re all the same I.M.O. and cost the same. Very little competition.
The internet
I have android boxes in some rooms. It’s not the same. It’s better than nothing and free once you buy the box.
Look really really hard.
Some incredible alternatives.
How is this delivered? If through the satellite dish it can only handle two things at once at the moment and if through the internet, then will speeds be fast enough? The article doesn’t mention that Sky Q will also offer 4K broadcasting that will be available as a premium extra just like HD & 3D were years ago. I do not have Sky, only Saorview and Kodi which is enough and better than what Sky has to offer.
Kodi is brilliant. Problem is most of rural Ireland have not got speed for it. People buy 4k tvs and can’t use them to their potential. I’ve 1mb line I’m forced to stick with sky
Kodi is not brilliant, too often games are skipping or there’s no good stream. Only one stream for the Leinster match on Sunday and the quality was poor
Depends on the add on you’re using. I find Phoenix for premier league and sport devil for rugby work well. Have uktv now for UFC on BT sports. I never have an issue with quality but as mentioned above I’m lucky enough to have a halfway decent Internet. Not great but not the worst.
How much time do we need in a day for all this
I have kodi and I have a smoothstreams subscription for €60 a year where I can get any sports event.
Which add on may I ask?
Believe in better !!!!!!!!
Constant price increases, extremely poor customer service and nothing but repeat programming, I think Murdoch’s days are numbered with Sky.
Yeah like all companys these days…
I left sky at the start of the year and really haven’t missed it. I find myself watching less and less tv all the time and anything I do watch can be got on saorview, freesat, skysport app on vodafone or Netflix. If I’m anything to go by sky in it present form is in big trouble.
Sky can f**k off they keep upping their prices my mother is paying for all channels and they still wont give her a sky+ box she has been a customer for more than 15 years
I use kodi streamed from my laptop to tv using my phones Internet and never have any problems €20 a month for my Internet
New techno ways to watch the sam old tosh on Sky- reminds me of that Bruce Springsteen song “99 channels and nothing on”
MovieHD, CartoonHD, Showbox + cast to TV. Simples
Android boxes are sh*te…. you can’t beat a jarvis box running a linux OS… no back round bloatware like android boxes… and streamsupreme for sports.. happy out with that €35 for 3 months for all ur sky sports & BT sports in all the us sports channels, Being sports.. and premier league pass too for all ur 3pm ko’s
So it’s a step in the right direction as they know with time there dominance will start to fade as people move to new ways of consuming TV shows. But the Xbox one can do this stuff better, you can get free to air to with an adapter, it has a to guide as slick if not better than sky, and the guide also pills from Netflix and the to shows and new movies from within the Microsoft store. So new movies/tv box sets = like renting a dvd, my subscription for Xbox live plus Netflix and that’s the content. There is loads of other services u can plug in to for subscriptions for sport and so on. And then of course they have launched a DVR service that allows u to record programs and watch back, and run multiple devices. Microsofts issue is they don’t market the Xbox for those reasons so not many people know this but now you do :) it’s another option
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