A Status Red weather warning has been issued for two counties ahead of Storm Eunice.
The Red Alert - Met Eireann’s highest - affects Cork and Kerry from 3am until 11am on Friday.
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The national forecaster warned: “Storm Eunice will track quickly over Ireland tonight and Friday morning bringing severe and damaging winds. Southwest winds veering northwest will reach mean speeds in excess of 80 km/h with gusts in excess of 130 km/h. Some coastal flooding, especially at high tide.”
Status Red is the highest of Met Eireann’s three categories.
"The issue of RED level severe weather warnings should be a comparatively rare event and implies that recipients take action to protect themselves and/or their properties; this could be by moving their families out of the danger zone temporarily; by staying indoors; or by other specific actions aimed at mitigating the effects of the weather conditions," Met Eireann explained.
It's one of several alerts issued ahead of Storm Eunice.
A Status Orange warning for wind begins at 5am and lasts until 11am for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford, Galway and Wexford.
Met Eireann says: “Storm Eunice will bring severe and potentially damaging winds, gusting up to 130km/h, higher in exposed areas. Some disruption is expected along with a possibility of coastal flooding.”
While a less severe nationwide Status Yellow warning for wind, rain and snow comes into force at 1am and lasts until 3pm.
It reads: “Storm Eunice will track over Ireland on Thursday night and on Friday bringing very strong winds and falls of heavy rain, sleet and snow. Some disruption is likely along with a possibility of coastal and spot flooding.”
It comes as Ireland is still picking up the pieces from Storm Dudley after it battered Ireland with strong winds and heavy rain overnight.
Ferocious winds of up to 110km/h struck, causing traffic chaos and leaving some homes without power.
