Storm Chandra floods Dublin’s M50, knocks out power and shuts hundreds of schools across Ireland

The northbound lanes of Dublin’s M50 motorway were quiet Tuesday morning, not because traffic was light but because the road was closed and under water.

Between Junction 16 at Cherrywood and Junction 12 at Firhouse, brown floodwater pooled across the tarmac as pumps and tankers worked to clear it. Commuters were told to stay home if they could. Parents turned back from blocked slip roads to find their children’s schools shut. In south Dublin’s Sandyford and Aiken Village, firefighters pulled motorists from stranded cars.

A rapidly deepening storm hits saturated ground

Storm Chandra, the fifth named storm of the 2025–26 North Atlantic season, arrived overnight — and in a matter of hours it upended daily life across much of the island of Ireland.

Named on Monday by the U.K. Met Office, the rapidly deepening low-pressure system swept in from the south late Jan. 26, bringing strong winds and heavy rain through the night into Tuesday, Jan. 27. Met Éireann, Ireland’s national meteorological service, issued a nationwide Status Yellow wind warning for the Republic from 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday, along with a Status Yellow rain warning for Carlow, Kilkenny, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow and Waterford.

Across the border, the Met Office placed eastern counties of Northern Ireland, including Antrim, Down and Derry, under an amber wind warning from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., warning of gusts of 60 to 70 mph, and up to 75 mph on exposed coasts.

By mid-morning, the full impact was clear. More than 20,000 homes and businesses in the Republic had lost electricity, according to ESB Networks, with a further 10,000 properties without power in Northern Ireland. More than 250 schools closed in the Republic and more than 300 in Northern Ireland, where further education colleges and all Ulster University campuses also shut for the day, moving classes online.

Met Éireann meteorologist Rebecca Cantwell said Chandra would bring “heavy spells of rain with strong winds, especially along the coast,” but stressed that the main problem was not peak gusts — strong but not record-breaking — but the conditions the storm encountered.

The rain, she said, was falling on “already saturated ground,” with rivers “approaching or exceeding bank-full conditions,” creating a high risk of both surface and river flooding.

“The compound effect of the wind and rain will make for some difficult travelling conditions,” Met Éireann said in its commentary, urging people to factor that in before setting out.

Dublin and the southeast see major flooding

Those conditions were starkest in the east and southeast.

In Dublin, the River Dodder burst its banks at Milltown, flooding fields near the Dropping Well pub, where pumps were deployed by the local authority. To the south, roads in Sandyford, Kilternan, Belarmine and around Lambs Cross on the Enniskerry Road were reported flooded, and Dublin Fire Brigade carried out rescues from vehicles caught in quickly rising water.

County Wicklow, which has seen repeated winter flooding in recent years, was among the worst hit. Residents in the village of Aughrim reported being “basically trapped in our homes” as several access roads became impassable and cars were left partly submerged. Local schools closed as a precaution.

Further north on the N11, gardaí described Kilmacanogue as “completely flooded,” with long delays and diversions on one of the main commuter routes into Dublin. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the state agency overseeing the national roads network, said crews were using pumps and tankers to clear water from the M50 and N11.

TII spokesman Sean O’Neill said the flooding had caused “significant disruption to people’s commutes” and advised anyone who could to “opt to work from home.”

In County Wexford, the River Slaney burst its banks at Enniscorthy, flooding quays, bridges and surrounding roads. A senior engineer with Wexford County Council said “everything is impassable around the river” and urged the public to stay away from floodwaters.

Carlow County Council reported numerous impassable roads and said fire crews had been pumping out homes overnight. Officials repeated warnings not to attempt to drive through floodwater, after several motorists had to be rescued.

Power outages, cancellations and safety warnings

Northern Ireland saw some of the strongest winds, with coastal gusts in line with the Met Office’s amber alert. Flooding was reported on routes near Belfast International Airport and in other low-lying areas. Belfast City Airport said at least 30 flights were canceled, while Dublin Airport urged passengers to check with their airlines amid possible delays and disruptions. Ferry sailings between Dublin and Holyhead were also canceled.

“Storm Chandra will bring a range of hazards to the U.K. through Monday night and Tuesday,” Met Office Chief Forecaster Paul Gundersen said as the warnings were issued, citing strong winds, heavy rain and, in parts of Great Britain, hill snow.

Emergency services across the island responded to fallen trees, localized flooding and power lines brought down by the wind. ESB Networks and Northern Ireland Electricity both warned the public to stay well clear of fallen wires and to report outages and damage.

Met Éireann repeated coastal safety guidance from the Irish Coast Guard, advising people to “Stay Back, Stay High, Stay Dry” and to avoid piers and exposed shorelines during the height of the storm.

A broader test of resilience

The disruption extended well beyond roads and power lines. With more than 500 schools shut across both jurisdictions, families faced sudden childcare gaps and a return to remote learning for a day. In rural areas where flooding cut off access roads, some residents relied on neighbors and community groups to bring supplies or offer temporary accommodation.

For national and local authorities, Chandra was the latest in a series of severe winter storms to test emergency plans. Since the joint storm-naming system with the U.K. and the Dutch meteorological service began in 2015, Ireland has seen an average of about eight named storms per season. The 2023–24 season brought a record 14 named storms affecting the country. In January 2025, Storm Éowyn produced a provisional record gust of 184 kilometers per hour at Mace Head in County Galway, surpassing a mark that had stood since 1945.

While Chandra’s maximum reported gusts — up to 112 kph in parts of Ireland and 124 kph at Malin Head — were well below that, it arrived after a series of wet weeks and earlier storms in the 2025–26 season, leaving rivers and soils less able to absorb new rainfall.

Speaking ahead of a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Tánaiste Simon Harris said Ireland was “seeing an increase in the frequency of extreme weather and we’re seeing the consequences of that.”

Harris said the government had pushed local authorities to improve their emergency plans after previous storms and acknowledged there had been “really good local resilience plans” in some areas while others “left a lot to be desired.”

He pointed to work by an “accelerated infrastructure taskforce” and investment in back-up generators and community facilities that can be used during emergencies, arguing that such measures were needed “to improve national resilience” as storms like Chandra become more common.

Even efforts to prepare for the future were not spared. In Aughrim, the launch of an EU-funded “Spongeworks” flood management project, aimed at using wetlands and other nature-based solutions to hold back water in the landscape, was postponed because of the very flooding it is meant to help address.

Flood risk lingers after the worst winds ease

As Chandra’s low-pressure center moved away and winds began to ease later Tuesday, forecasters warned that flood risks would linger. With rivers still running high and ground conditions saturated, local flooding was expected to persist into Wednesday and Thursday, even as skies brightened in some areas.

Met Éireann urged people to stay alert to updated warnings and to continue avoiding flooded roads and fast-flowing water.

For many, the storm will be remembered less for its peak winds than for the practical fallout: the quiet hum of generators in darkened streets, the empty classrooms, the long queues on diverted roads and the sight of a major motorway turned, if only briefly, into a shallow lake.

With several weeks left in the winter storm season and more names still on the official list, the question for authorities remains whether repairs and upgrades to roads, drainage, power networks and flood defenses can keep pace with the weather systems bearing down. Storm Chandra has offered an early-season reminder of what happens when an ordinary working day meets an atmosphere primed for extremes.