We're facing a significant, historic storm with winds possibly hitting speeds never recorded here before.
A red, 'danger to life' warning for wind will be in place across the country tomorrow for Storm Eowyn starting at 2am and ending at 10am in Cork.
After that an orange alert will be in place until 5 o'clock tomorrow evening with North and West Cork likely to be the worst affected - with strong winds of up to 180km/h.
The County Council is closely monitoring area's like Bantry and Midleton for any potential flooding as a yellow rain warning will be in place for Cork from 9 o'clock tonight until 3am tomorrow.
Alan O’Reilly from Carlow Weather says there will still be strong winds up until tomorrow evening:
"It is likely we will see hurricane force winds on the west coast, but you can't call it a hurricane because of its basically doesn't have the characteristics. It doesn't look like one. It doesn't behave like one. but that doesn't mean it won't have the same power as a hurricane."
Cork City Council is expecting significant damage as a result of tomorrow's weather alert.
Engineers do not expect any river or tidal flooding but say fallen trees and power lines are extremely likely.
Schools and creches will close, trains and buses will not operate and the DAA says it's monitoring flights in and out of Cork Airport.
An Post says there will be no deliveries or collections tomorrow and Post Offices will stay closed during the duration of the red warning.
Public counters at City Hall as well as public parks and car parks will close until midday tomorrow.
Speaking to RedFM News, City Council's Director of Services David Joyce expects the storm to cause significant damage:
"In the city, there could be damage. We expect there could be damage to property, whether that be public property or private property. We expect there will be significant numbers of trees down across the city, but some possibly where, and some possible impacts of the tree comes down in a public park, the impact might be restricted to just that public park having a delaying opening. However, if a train goes down an important public road, then you could have significant traffic impacts."
A HR expert is urging businesses to facilitate remote working arrangements for staff tomorrow for the duration of the Status Red Wind alert.
Damien McCarthy of the HR Buddy says during any extreme weather event employee safety needs to be prioritised.
He told RedFM News advance planning and communication is vital in order to minimise disruption for employers and their employees.
"Work that can't be done on Friday morning, could perhaps be reorganized to another time. And then there's minimal impact on workers and the business, but the most important thing is that curing any weather event extreme weather event, especially a Red alert, safety is paramount to keep people safe and don't have regrets."
