Updated: 1.20pm
Orange alerts are in place for eight counties in the south of the country as Storm Agnes makes landfall.
The orange warnings began at 9am, with Cork, Kerry and Waterford covered by both wind and rain alerts.
The wind warning is also in place for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow, and will last until 5pm while the rain alert ends at 3pm.
Some flights to and from Cork Airport have been impacted by adverse conditions, with passengers advised to check the status of their flights and allow extra time when travelling to the airport.
The airport's communications manager Barry Holland said flights are operational, but confirmed there have been three outbound and two inbound cancellations so far on Wednesday morning.
Thousands are without power across Cork, Kerry and Tipperary. According to the ESB webiste, major outages have been reported in Cashel, Clonmel, Tipperary Town, Macroom, Bandonand Woodford.
The website estimates that most of the outages will be restored by the early afternoon.
Earlier, a yellow wind alert took effect in Munster, Leinster and Galway at 7am, joined by a yellow alert for rain covering Carlow Dublin, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry and Waterford. Both of these warnings will remain in place until midnight.
Met Éireann said Storm Agnes will bring "very strong and gusty southerly winds, with some severe and damaging gusts".
The AROME model showing the forecast rainfall for #StormAgnes also. It shows potential for some very heavy rain and local strong gusts in the East as squall feature shows. These are hard to forecast but can result in sudden and local damaging winds. pic.twitter.com/eBJJHkEOId
— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) September 26, 2023
There will also be heavy and occasionally intense spells of rain in the affected counties.
In addition to poor visibility and difficult travel conditions, the forecaster warned of potential localised and coastal flooding, while strong winds may lead to power outages and fallen trees in parts.
The UK Met Office has also issued a yellow wind warning for the six counties, lasting from midday on Wednesday to 7am on Thursday.
Storm Agnes is likely to make landfall late Wednesday morning and for now a number of weather warnings have been issued in response. Check out https://t.co/WYHso6okOM for updated weather information #StormAgnes. pic.twitter.com/Ye5I3WSi42
— Irish Coast Guard (@IrishCoastGuard) September 26, 2023
Storm and gale warnings will also be in place for much of Wednesday, with the south coast covered by an orange warning from 9am to 7pm.
A further yellow gale warning for all Irish coasts and the Irish Sea will also be in place from 7am to midnight.
