Storm Debi: Thunderstorms to hit southern England as new weather warning issued

A shopworker had to be rescued by the emergency services as flooding devastated a row of businesses in south Galway,

Storm Debi caused chaos in the county early on Monday, particularly in Oranmore, where boats were washed off their moorings and shops flooded by sea water.

Ronan Hennigan, who owns the Londis supermarket in nearby Clarinbridge, said one of his workers called him at 4.35am to tell him water was getting into the shop.

Storm Debi is the fourth storm to affect Ireland since September, after Storms Babet and Ciaran left shops and homes in Midleton, Carlingford and Newry as well as elsewhere flooded after intense rainfall.

The Irish national director for fire and emergency management said Storm Debi is “probably the most intense storm” of the season so far.

Keith Leonard said: “It was probably the high winds of that leading edge of the storm as it came across the country that was the most hazardous piece.

“So probably the most intense storm we’ve had so far in the season.”

Yellow wind and rain warnings were in place in Northern Ireland on Monday, with amber warnings issued for counties Down and Armagh.

Some roads flooded and public transport services were disrupted, with around 2,000 customers left without power, mainly around Craigavon, Newry and Downpatrick.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he is sorry to hear about the impact of Storm Debi on parts of Ireland, adding it is the Government’s intention to expand a support scheme for businesses affected by the severe weather on Monday.

Mr Varadkar said: “I’m really sorry to hear about the impact of the severe weather around the country. I know it’s been particularly hard in Galway – both in the city and the county area.”

He said the enterprise support scheme, which was introduced following flooding in Midleton last month, has to go through a formal Government decision to be expanded to Galway, but added this is “really just a formality”.

“We really want to help businesses get back on their feet, particularly so close to Christmas, which is such an important time for retail sector and the hospitality sector in particular.”

Storm Debi brought wind gusts of more than 70mph to parts of Britain and Ireland on Monday, disrupting travel and leaving more than 100,000 without power.

British Airways cancelled 50 flights to and from London Heathrow, while ferries and trains were also disrupted.

Gusts of 77mph were recorded in Gwynedd, 74mph at Killowen in Northern Ireland and 68mph on the Isle of Man as the low pressure system moved across the Irish Sea.

Gusts of over 70mph were recorded across the UK as Storm Debi blew in.

An amber weather warning for wind – meaning buildings could be damaged and travel disruption was likely – remained in place on Monday afternoon for North West England.

Severe gales caused power cuts across the island of Ireland, with around 100,000 homes and businesses left without electricity.

Storm surge knocked over a sea wall and a boat was washed off moorings in Oranmore, while a gust of 115kph was recorded on Monday morning at a Met Eireann weather station in Athenry, Co Galway.

Downed trees and flooding were reported in Co Cavan while Louth County Council also recorded fallen power lines.

Fire crews in Meath responded to a number of incidents involving vehicles and fallen trees but reported no injuries.

The ESB (Electricity Supply Board) said it would have to work late through the night to return power to some areas, after more than 100,000 homes and businesses were without electricity at the peak of outages on Monday morning.

By Monday afternoon, around 70,000 customers remained without power.

ESB spokesman Brian Tapley had said earlier that the worst affected areas were Tuam, Longford, Ashbourne, Navan and the Midlands.

Recovery operations are under way after Storm Debi swept across Ireland, forcing some schools to close and disrupting public transport services.

A woman was taken to hospital after being hit by flying debris in Limerick, as the storm also brought coastal flooding and widespread power outages across Ireland.

The majority of the country was placed under red and orange wind warnings on Monday as Irish forecaster Met Eireann warned of “severe and damaging gusts”, with the last of the warnings lifting by 3pm.

With all weather warnings now expired, the focus turned to clearing roads of debris, reconnecting the 70,000 homes and businesses left without power and helping those hit by flooding.

An Irish Government scheme to support people living in homes affected by severe weather has been extended following flooding in Galway city and nearby Oranmore.

One Galway businessman told the PA news agency that “unthinkable” flooding damage done to his business could cost between 500,000 and 700,000 euro to fix.

“The people are devastated. There is no flood defence, this could happen in two weeks’ time if we get another bad storm, until something is done about it,” he said.

Blustering winds will begin to ease this evening across northern England, the Met Office has said.

In a post on X, the weather service wrote: “The very strong winds across northern England will start to abate this evening as #StormDebi pulls away into the North Sea.

“Staying windy in many areas though with showers or longer spells of rain, albeit with some clear periods, especially in the south”

For the 2023/24 season, the way the Met Office and Irish service Met Éireann names storms has changed.

Previously, names were drawn from a shortlist of favourites chosen by the public.

But now, the storms will be named after those working to protect people from severe weather around the UK.

Storm Debi is named after Debi Garft, a recently retired policy officer in the Scottish Government Flooding Team.

In the UK a storm is named if it has the potential to cause disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning.