Laois woman Met Éireann's Evelyn Cusack says parts of Storm Ellen will be Status Red

Parts of Storm Ellen hitting Ireland this evening will be Status Red, Met Eireann's Head of Forecasting, Laois woman Evelyn Cusack has confirmed.

"It will be a high impact storm because all the trees are in full leaf. Coastal flooding is possible, some river flooding. Forget about the colours there could be trees down anywhere because of the recent heavy rain," she said.

"There is particularly concern for the hundreds of thousands of tourists camping out enjoying the beautiful scenery in the south and west in particular. But really all areas are at risk tonight. It's expected to be quite a high impact storm right across the country.

"On the coast and over high ground it's really status Red. And there could be really strong impacts. 

"Orange is very very serious. Yellow is very serious. Yellow goes to gusts of 110km per hour and that can easily knock a tree no problem. It's a high impact event this evening and tonight. At least it will be at night, that's one good thing.

"But really nobody should be out hillwalking or going near the coast from this afternoon onwards," Ms Cusack said on RTÉ Radio 1's Today Show.

There is further risk of local flooding in the east of Ireland on Thursday she said.

"Really all of Ireland from this evening, tonight, Thursday, Friday is very very unsettled. In Cork and Kerry and Clare there is likely to be coastal flooding with very heavy rain. We're not into the Reds yet but please keep in touch with our warnings and sign up for our notifications we are reviewing them at all times. There's Red out for coastal areas, Orange for a lot of Munster and Connaught but yellow into the orange for the rest of the country.

High impact very dangerous conditions over the next 48 hours

#StormEllen will produce severe impacts in place this evening & tonight.

Mild & cloudy,rain at times. Highs of 17 to 20C.
Very windy or stormy conditions spreading from the south this evening with damaging gusts.
This satellite animation shows the development of #StormEllen. pic.twitter.com/5xVZLuZi7M

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) August 19, 2020