Ireland is now bracing for intense levels of rainfall, which are expected to bring floods as Storm Austen rolls in sooner than previously believed. 

The first named storm of the season is now set to hit later this evening, bringing a yellow wind and rain warning to the entire country. This will last from 7 pm today until 10 am on Friday. 

However, in some parts of the country, like Waterford, Cork and Kerry, this has been upgraded to an orange wind and rain warning. 

Met Éireann has asked people to be prepared for flooding, difficult travel conditions and likely disruptions to public transport. 

In a grim warning, Met Éireann meteorologist Gerry Murphy claimed that it is going to be wet ‘everywhere’ in the country as heavy rainfall rolls in. 

Speaking to RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, he stressed: ‘So, a very wet evening and night in store. Flooding is likely and that flooding is likely to be mainly surface flooding. 

‘Coastal flooding is not quite as likely on the south coast, because the winds will be blowing away, the main winds will be northwesterly.’ 

It is understood that while tides are not high enough for heavy coastal flooding, there will be issues on small river catchments. 

‘Surface flooding will be the greatest impact with regard to flooding and those counties along the south and the east coast will get the highest amounts,’ Mr Murphy explained. 

The heaviest rain is set to be overnight, with those travelling on Friday morning being asked to prepare for delays as a result of flooding. 

‘Certainly for rush hour, there is likely to be floods on many of the roads and it will be a difficult enough morning for rush hour tomorrow morning in the east and indeed in the south as well.’ 

However, there will be ‘no real let-up’ for the weekend according to the meteorologist. Heavy rainfall is predicted for both Saturday and Sunday. 

Dublin City Council has stressed that its flood response team is now ‘preparing for the potential impacts of heavy rainfall across the city and has put measures in place to respond quickly should localised flooding occur.’ 

This has led to drastic concerns for the some 22,5000 runners set to take part in the Dublin Marathon on Sunday. 

Met Éireann has stressed that conditions on the day will likely be far from favourable with heavy bouts of rainfall predicted throughout the day.