BALLYFERRITER, Ireland — One of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the northeastern Atlantic bore down on Ireland on Monday, unleashing strong winds and rain that killed at least three people and visited destruction on an island with little experience of such powerful storms.

The national weather service, Met Eireann, issued its first red alert for severe weather for the entire country Sunday night, warning of “violent and destructive gusts” and of “potential loss of life.”

By Monday afternoon, at least three people had been killed, officials said. One was a motorist in her 20s who died when a tree crashed through her windshield near the town of Aglish in County Waterford. A passenger, a woman in her 50s, was also injured.

The second fatality was a man in his 30s who died in what officials described as a chain-saw accident while removing a fallen tree near Cahir in County Tipperary. The third was a man who was hit by a falling tree while driving in the village of Ravensdale north of Dundalk near the border with Northern Ireland, the police said.