Hundreds of homes have been damaged in Cork following severe flooding on Wednesday after Storm Babet made landfall.
A clean-up operation was in place in Midleton in east Cork after a month's rain fell in just 24 hours.
Over 100 homes in the town have been flooded, with residents forced to wade through chest-high floods to leave their homes on Wednesday.
Midleton's community center is now hosting people who were forced to evacuate their homes.
Lisa O'Connell told the Journal that the front window of her salon was smashed on Wednesday due to the conditions.
"We’re a very busy salon full of clients. But just like in the blink of an eye, the water just started coming up and pouring into the salon and it was like we were nearly outside was like knee-deep within about kind of five minutes," O'Connell told the Journal.
She added that many local businesses were similarly affected by the flooding.
Damian O’Brien, who runs two clothes shops in the town, told the publication that businesses may remain closed for several weeks in the wake of the flooding.
Almost 500 electricity customers in Midleton remained without power on Thursday morning, while several roads remained under water.
Main Street, Midleton, yesterday. Your street tomorrow.
All those politicians, special interest lobbyists & media outlets who play down & distract from tackling the #ClimateEmergency, they own this.pic.twitter.com/kqlVOWL8zl
— John Gibbons (@think_or_swim) October 19, 2023
The Cork town of Glanmire was also severely impacted by Storm Babet and was essentially closed on Wednesday due to the high level of flood water.
Numerous towns and villages in Cork and Waterford were also affected.
Met Éireann issued a Status Orange weather warning for Cork and Kerry on Wednesday, while there was a Status Yellow weather warning in place for the rest of the country. A Status Orange warning was also in place for several hours in Wicklow, Waterford, and Wexford.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has announced that the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is open for people whose houses or businesses were damaged in the floods, while members of the Defence Forces have been deployed to Midleton.
Midleton Fire Station officer Mark Sinclair said the flooding has been "absolutely devastating".
"I'm born and bred in the town, I've seen many a flood, but none of this capacity. This came so quick, we helped as much as we could and tried to get as many people to safety as possible. We’re still going around checking on people to see if they need help," Sinclaire told Extra.ie.
Sinclair said the Owenacurra River burst its banks at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday and said the town's main street was "like a river" by 2 p.m.
"A lot of the shops have no insurance because it‘s a flood zone, the town hasn’t seen anything like this in 40 years."
Supervalu Midleton. Absolutely destroyed pic.twitter.com/VnY0EZR3u1
— JJ Sheridan (@shero80) October 18, 2023
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