Storm Chandra floods roads and closes hundreds of schools across Ireland

Rain hammered the windscreen and taillights glowed red in the pre-dawn dark as traffic on Dublin’s M50 ground to a halt Tuesday. Northbound lanes between Junction 16 at Cherrywood and Junction 12 at Firhouse were turned into a shallow lake, gardaí diverting commuters while heavy pumps rumbled on the hard shoulder.

At the same time, 70 kilometers to the south in Aughrim, Co. Wicklow, residents woke to find every road in and out of the village under water. One local described being “basically trapped in our homes” as floodwater spilled across junctions, submerged cars and forced the closure of the local primary school.

The storm responsible — Storm Chandra, the fifth named North Atlantic storm of the 2025–26 season — did not bring record-breaking winds to Ireland. But arriving on already saturated ground overnight Monday into Tuesday, it was enough to cut power to tens of thousands of homes, close more than 500 schools across the island and test the country’s flood defenses from Dublin to Enniscorthy.

Warnings as heavy rain hit saturated ground

Chandra was named on Monday by the U.K. Met Office, which warned of strong winds and heavy rain moving in from the south and east. 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, alongside a separate Status Yellow rain warning for Carlow, Kilkenny, Louth, Wexford, Wicklow and Waterford.

“Storm Chandra will bring heavy spells of rain with strong winds, especially along the coast,” Met Éireann meteorologist Rebecca Cantwell said in advance of the system’s arrival. She warned that the rain would fall on “already saturated ground,” with rivers “approaching or exceeding bank-full conditions,” creating a clear risk of both surface and river flooding.

By mid-morning Tuesday, that risk had become reality in several counties.

Roads underwater from the M50 to Wicklow and Wexford

Transport Infrastructure Ireland said flooding on the M50 and on parts of the N11 and M11 caused widespread disruption for commuters. On the N11 at Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow, gardaí described the village as “completely flooded,” with water spilling across the carriageway and into local roads.

“There has been significant disruption to people’s commutes,” Sean O’Neill of TII said, urging anyone who could do so to work from home until conditions improved. Pumps and tankers were deployed to clear key junctions, but officials warned that further downpours could quickly overwhelm drainage systems again.

In south Dublin and north Wicklow, Dublin Fire Brigade and local councils dealt with a series of flood incidents. The River Dodder burst its banks at Milltown, flooding fields near the Dropping Well pub and prompting the deployment of pumps along its course. In Sandyford and nearby Aiken Village, fire crews rescued motorists from vehicles stranded in deep water. Flooding was also reported on routes through Kilternan, Belarmine and at Lambs Cross on the Enniskerry Road.

Further south, the River Slaney overflowed in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, covering quays, approach roads and low-lying land. A senior Wexford County Council engineer said “everything is impassable around the river” and strongly advised people not to enter flooded areas on foot or in vehicles.

Carlow County Council reported numerous roads as impassable and said fire crews had been pumping out homes overnight. After several motorists had to be helped from flooded cars, the council’s chief executive appealed to drivers not to drive through floods under any circumstances.

Power cuts and widespread school closures

ESB Networks reported that more than 20,000 customers in the Republic lost power at various points on Tuesday, particularly in exposed and rural areas. Northern Ireland Electricity said around 10,000 properties were without supply as strong easterly winds brought down lines. Both utilities urged the public to stay well clear of fallen cables and to report any damage immediately.

School authorities on both sides of the border opted for widespread closures. In the Republic, more than 250 primary and secondary schools shut for the day, many citing access issues where buses and staff could not safely reach buildings due to flooding or fallen trees. In Northern Ireland, officials said over 300 schools closed, while further education colleges including Ulster University, Belfast Metropolitan College and the South Eastern Regional College moved classes online.

Winds below record levels, but disruption was severe

Met Éireann said the combined impact of wind and rain would make for “some difficult travelling conditions,” advising the public to allow extra time for journeys, avoid flooded roads and keep away from coastal edges where wave overtopping was possible. The Irish Coast Guard repeated its “Stay Back, Stay High, Stay Dry” message for anyone near the sea.

In Northern Ireland and the wider U.K., the Met Office issued an amber wind warning for eastern counties Antrim, Down and Derry from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, forecasting gusts of 60 to 70 mph widely and up to 75 mph along coasts.

While gusts in Ireland reached 112 kph in some locations — with 124 kph reported near Malin Head — meteorologists noted the winds were below the violent levels recorded during Storm Éowyn in January 2025, when a provisional 184 kph gust at Mace Head set a new Irish record. Instead, it was the hydrological backdrop that turned Chandra into a disruptive event.

Weeks of wet weather had left soils waterlogged and river levels high, particularly in the east and southeast. Met Éireann stressed that rivers were already “approaching or exceeding bank-full conditions,” meaning that even moderate additional rainfall could push them over their banks. The agency also warned flood risk could persist beyond the passage of the storm, as excess water takes days to drain through catchments.

Government focus on resilience as flooding persists

The storm arrived amid a broader discussion about how prepared Ireland is for a period of more frequent winter extremes.

Speaking before a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Tánaiste Simon Harris said there had been “an increase in the frequency of extreme weather and we’re seeing the consequences of that.” He said the Government had worked with local authorities to improve resilience planning after previous storms, but acknowledged performance had been uneven.

“Some areas had really good local resilience plans, others left a lot to be desired,” Harris said, adding that officials were seeking “consistency” across councils. He linked the issue to the Government’s “accelerated infrastructure taskforce,” aimed at speeding up planning and delivery of critical projects, arguing that this would also strengthen national resilience to storms and floods.

Local authorities in Wicklow and elsewhere also faced an ironic twist: a flood-management event in Aughrim under an EU Horizon project known as Spongeworks, promoting nature-based “sponge” landscapes to absorb rainfall, had to be postponed because the host town was dealing with real-time flooding.

What comes next

Met Éireann and emergency agencies reiterated winter safety guidance: secure loose objects around homes, prepare for possible power cuts with torches and charged phones, and check on older or vulnerable neighbors during severe weather.

For many households, the immediate concern on Tuesday was more basic — blocked roads, children at home and uncertainty about when normal life would resume. In several flood-prone communities along the Slaney, the Dodder and smaller rivers, residents again faced the task of moving furniture, drying floors and contacting insurers.

Meteorologists say multiple strong storms in a single season are not unusual for Ireland, particularly in January. Met Éireann records show variability in recent years, with an average of around eight named storms per season since 2015 and a peak of 14 affecting Ireland in 2023–24.

Chandra, forecasters stressed, will not go down as one of the great windstorms in the country’s history. Yet the disruption it caused — from stranded commuters on the M50 to villages effectively cut off in the southeast — underlined how even a mid-strength storm can overwhelm systems when it arrives on a saturated island.

As pumps continued to clear standing water from motorways and river levels were monitored late Tuesday, forecasters said conditions would gradually ease into Wednesday and Thursday. The longer-term question, for planners and policymakers as much as for weather services, is how many more such storms the current infrastructure and emergency plans can absorb before more fundamental changes are required.