A nationwide weather warning is now in place.
Storm Ali has been battering Ireland and the UK since the early hours of the morning with gusts as high as 90 to 110 km/hr travelling across the country.
A status yellow weather warning is in place for the entire country until 5pm this evening and motorists have been urged not to travel unless completely necessary.
140,000 homes and businesses are also without power.
Here’s everything you need to know about the travel, public transport, and electricity situation during Storm Ali.
Travel
AA Roadwatch has urged motorists not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
Wind blown debris is likely to be an issue on many secondary roads across the country. AA has also warned that certain vehicles could be “vulnerable” on the road.
There are a considerable number of trees and power lines down in Dublin, Galway, Cavan, and Kildare. Traffic is also considerably heavy in Dublin city centre with many blockages caused by trees falling on cars .
The full list of road blockages can be found on AA’s website here.
Public transport
Dublin Bus is operating a full service today, however there are many diversions on routes due to fallen trees and debris.
At the time of writing, routes 67, 66, 39/a, 140, 42, 102, and 15/b were affected by the storm with the route diversions in place.
A full list of diversions can be found here or on Dublin Bus’s Twitter account.
Bus Eireann is experiencing route disruptions today, particularly in the west of the country with services suspended entirely in Galway city.
The South West Route 350 is also not operating via the Cliffs of Moher, with other services in the eastern region also affected due to fallen trees.
A full list of Bus Eireann services can be found here.
Luas services are also disrupted today on the Green Line due to a tree that made contact with an overhead power line between Beechwood and Ranelagh.
The Green Line is currently running between Brides Glen and Balally and Dominick and Broombridge only. There is no service between Balally and Dominick. Tickets are valid on Dublin Bus for the duration of the disruption.
Luas has advised passengers that it will take maintenance many hours to correct the issue.
Luas updates can be found here or on the Luas Twitter page.
Irish Rail is suffering significant disruptions across the country with many delays to Sligo, Galway/Westport, DART, Northern Commuter and Enterprise services.
A full list of Irish Rail delays and disruptions can be found here or on Irish Rail’s Twitter page.
Flights
A number of flights in and out of the country have been cancelled today due to high winds.
Dublin Airport issued a statement this morning advising passengers to check the latest flight information with their airline’s website before coming to the airport.
Cork and Shannon Airports are also advising passengers hoping to fly to check their flight status with their airline before travelling.
For Dublin Airport departures visit here, or for Dublin Airport arrivals visit here.
Shannon Airport live arrivals and departures can be found here, and Cork Airport live arrivals and departures can be found here.
Power
Over 140,000 homes and businesses are currently without power across the country due to 750 separate faults.
ESB has said that the damage is “mainly attributable to fallen trees on overhead lines as a result of the high winds.”
A live map of power outages can be found here.
Dublin’s Phoenix Park is also closed for the day due to the weather conditions.
A statement was issued on Facebook earlier this afternoon, stating:
“Gusts are very strong and we recommend that walkers and cyclists do not enter the Park. Only vehicles with essential business in the Park should enter.”
Feature image via Irish Rail Twitter.
