The north of Ireland has been battered by heavy rain as violent storms caused flooding.

The downpours swept in from the Atlantic, hitting Co Donegal before moving across Northern Ireland during Tuesday evening. Met Éireann – the Irish weather service – and the Met Office issued yellow rain warnings for the northern half of the island.

Between 7pm and 11pm firefighters in Northern Ireland responded to 60 flooding incidents.

A number of people were rescued from cars caught in the sudden floods and police issued a warning to all road users to exercise caution in the hazardous conditions.

Late on Tuesday night a Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) spokesman said: “NIFRS are continuing to deal with a large number of flood-related incidents across the province as a result of localised heavy rainfall.

“A considerable number of these incidents have occurred in the west of the province. NIFRS has carried out a number of rescues of persons trapped in vehicles in flood water and we would advise all road users to exercise extreme caution overnight.”

Across the border on the Inishowen peninsula in north Donegal, roads turned into rivers as rain battered the area.