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Storm Betty: Strong winds and rain forecast for Northern Ireland

PA Media Large waves crash over the promenade in Tramore, Co Waterford.PA Media
Large waves crash over the promenade in Tramore, County Waterford, after Storm Betty brought strong winds on Friday evening

Storm Betty is likely to bring disruption to parts of Northern Ireland on Friday evening.

The system will bring strong winds, especially at the coast, along with some heavy and persistent rain.

A Met Office wind warning for counties Down and Antrim came into force from 18:00 BST on Friday and will remain until midday on Saturday.

A warning for rain is in place across Northern Ireland from 21:00 on Friday until 06:00 on Saturday.

There is a warning for possible large waves around the coast, while flooding could also affect some places.

The latest on road disruption can be found on the Trafficwatch NI website.

In the Republic of Ireland, where weather warnings are also in place, several parts of Cork city and county are dealing with flooding.

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Northern Ireland environment officials have asked members of the public to avoid forests, country parks, and nature reserves.

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Analysis: A quieter storm season than normal

Named storms this late in the storm year aren't that unusual.

Previously, on 18 August, we had Storm Ellen, quickly followed by Storm Francis six days later.

But it has been the quietest storm season, which runs 1 September-31 August, since storms began to be named in 2015.

There have been just two locally-named storms in the past 12 months, both in August - Storm Antoni on 4 August and now Storm Betty.

Previously the quietest years were 2016 and 2020, which both had five locally named storms.

A new batch of names is due to be announced at the end of this month and will be used for any named storms between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024.

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In the Republic, Met Éireann warned of the possibility of spot flooding, travel disruption and large waves over topping along the east coast.

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This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read  and  before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

Status Orange warnings for counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Tipperary and Waterford are in place until 03:00 on Saturday.

The service is also warning of the potential of damage to temporary structures, and for some power outages.

A number of weather warnings have also been issued across parts of Great Britain, particularly the south.