UPDATE: Lorenzo to bring 'violent' wind, lightning and heavy rain

Power outages, falling trees, localised flooding and hazardous driving conditions predicted

Olga Aughey

Evelyn Cusack, head of forecasting at Met Éireann, has warned Storm Lorenzo will bring "violent storm force 11 winds", with gusts in excess of 130km/h in the west.

"It will have significant disruptive aspects, especially this time of year when trees are in full leaf," warned Cusack following a meeting of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group.

"It is moving very fast at the moment, it is shooting up (towards Ireland), it does stall and then turns right towards Ireland.

"The main focus of the storm will be southern parts of Cork, Kerry, up through Claire, Limerick, Galway and Mayo," said Ms Cusack, for which there is an Status Orange warning in place.

This could change to a Status Red warning as the day progresses.

"It is a hurricane at the moment. As the storm centre moves north eastwards it will reach much colder seas, so it transitions mid-latitude storm," Cusack explained.

"It's tracking north eastwards towards Ireland. It's going to be a very deep depression. It's going to have a very deep effect on Ireland," she added.

Ms Cusack said the combination of very low pressure, high tides, and onshore storm force winds of 8 to 10, and storm force 11 winds for a time, will make this a significant storm.

"Coastal flooding is likely, some heavy pockets of rain, some thunderstorm activity, some lightning", she continued.

Rainfall totals of 50mm are forecast for the north and west.

She urged people not in Status Red areas not to become complacent.

"Status Yellow warning means that dangerous conditions can occur locally. The ground is saturated, tree roots are weakened.

Full blown storm

"We will full blown storm effects from tomorrow evening. There will be gusts in excess of 130km/h in the west, violent storm force 11 winds," continued the forecaster.

"Even if you are in a Yellow area, because of the time of year, and because the ground is saturated, there could be trees down anywhere," she warned.

"The European Centre that we base our forecast on, we run our model 52 times, at the moment, they're all converging towards Ireland.

"We're all here because this storm has originated from a hurricane, there will be lightning, some very heavy pockets of rain - I am trying to get across that even in Yellow areas it can be quite dangerous."

Coastal Conditions

Jim Casey of the OPW said the highest storm surges will be in the south west, west (.8 and 1m) Galway, Clue Bay and Clare, further north Sligo and Donegal (.6m)."

Coupled with these storm surges will be "very long waves", that have the potential to further set up sea levels.

"There is a potential of localised coastal flooding, and also at high water tomorrow at 9pm, that would be a time for greatest risk."

Local Authorities

Paddy Mahon, chief executive of Longford County Council who sits on the National Emergency Co-ordination Group, said local authorities are making preparations for the storm.

Counties along the West coast are preparing flood defences.

"Inland, there's the possibility of trees being blown down, power lines knocked out, blockages to roads, there's a significant amount of rain with this storm, flooding in rural and urban areas.

"Everyone should keep a close eye, not just on the national media but on the local media, to see how the storm might affect you and your area," he urged.

Driving Conditions

Driving conditions are expected to be hazardous throughout the country. Motorists who have to take a journey are being asked by An Garda Síochana to that they check the local weather forecast and "assess whether their journey is necessary at all.

Power outages and fallen trees

Derek Hynes said ESB Networks are escalating readiness plans.

"We expect power outages over the course of Thursday night and into Friday morning and we are asking the public to have torches ready.

"We're asking all members of the public to be very vigilant.

"It's clear electricity lines will come down, we are asking people to be really careful if they see a tree down, it may have brought a live electricity power line down with it too.

"We also ask you to please take care of neighbours, friends and general community."