The alert applies to Munster and counties Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow and Meath all day on Thursday. Heavy rain is expected, with accumulations between 30mm and 50mm possible. This is equivalent to up to 2in of rain in 24 hours. Met Éireann has warned of a risk of local flooding.

The Met Office has issued a similar warning for Northern Ireland from 3pm on Thursday.

While not covered by the warning, the rest of the country will also receive heavy rain on Thursday. Winds will become fresh to strong and gusty late in the day.

The overall forecast for the rest of this week is for very wet and windy weather.

After a cold and bright start to Friday, the weather will deteriorate with strong, gusty winds accompanied by heavy rain and again a risk of spot flooding at night. Gale-force winds are forecast at sea.

Met Éireann has so far described the next weather event as a “deepening Atlantic depression”. The next name on the list of named storms in the UK and Ireland would be Brian, but meteorologists have said that the depression expected in the coming days has so far not been classified as such.

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