Road users are being advised to take extra care after trees were brought down in many parts of the country by storm force winds overnight.

Met Éireann said the highest gusts recorded were in Co Mayo with 117km/h recorded at its station in Knock, 115km/h in Belmullet, and 113km/h in Newport.

Fallen trees and debris blocked the main route in Claremorris for a time, but was cleared by this morning.

In Galway city, there was flooding in the Docks and Salthill areas.

Gardaí said a number of cars were damaged when a car park flooded in Salthill.

Video footage on social media last night showed vehicles in the car park being battered by the winds and the car park flooding.

Speaking to RTÉ News, Galway Councillor Niall McNeilis said around 40 to 50 cars in three car parks in the Salthill area were affected by flooding and storm damage.

He said a number of cars in the Aquarium car park, Toft and the Salthill car park were either flooded or damaged by last night's high winds.

Cllr McNeillis also said four to ten properties in Salthill were affected by flooding.

The scene in Salthill, Co Galway at about 10pm last night (Courtesy: Cllr Eddie Hoare) | Read more https://t.co/lTDyfTlEqz pic.twitter.com/Eb5CzH8KXP — RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 19, 2019

Galway County Council and civil defence crews have been out since early this morning clearing roads, fallen trees and other debris. All roads are now reported to have reopened.

Elsewhere, a number of fallen trees in Co Cork have been cleared.

Met Éireann said the strong winds with severe and damaging gusts were a result of Elsa - an Atlantic storm system.

Galway and Mayo had Status Orange wind warnings in place until 1am, while the rest of the country had a Status Yellow wind warning until 3am.



