A huge clean-up operation has been under way across east Cork and west Waterford - following widespread flooding caused by Storm Babet.
A number of towns and villages in the region were deluged after a month's rain fell in one day.
A new Status Yellow rain warning is in place for Cork, Kerry and Limerick until 9am this morning.
Met Éireann said heavy bursts of rain or showers overnight coupled with waterlogged soils and high river levels is likely to lead to further localised flooding and dangerous travelling conditions.
As businesses and householders count the cost, the Government said a €10 million fund is available to provide support.
The Taoiseach told the community in Midleton, Co Cork that emergency services and public services are available to help with the clean up, after the area was one of the worst hit by flooding during Storm Babet.
Leo Varadkar confirmed that the Government will be offering a financial package to support people whose homes and businesses were damaged in floods during the storm.
"We're putting in place a financial package to help homes that are affected, businesses that weren't insured - clearly a lot of damage to roads and bridges as well and they're going to need to be repaired," he said.
"There's an initial allocation of €10 million to help families and businesses that are affected, and clubs and voluntary organisations too, but it's not capped at €10 million, that's just the initial allocation that's made."
A memo will also be brought to Cabinet next week on payments to businesses affected by the floods in east Cork, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has said.
However, the department has not indicated any plans to increase the amounts available to businesses, as suggested by the Taoiseach when he spoke to journalists while visiting the Cork town today.
Mr Varadkar said the level of damage to stock held by businesses in east Cork meant the limits of €5,000 for an initial payment and €20,000 for a follow up payment may have to be raised by the department.
In response to a query following the remarks, the department said: "The Government's Emergency Humanitarian Flooding scheme typically provides for a once-off contribution of up to €20,000 towards the costs of returning business premises and community, voluntary, and sporting bodies to their pre-flood condition.
"This includes for the replacement of flooring, fixtures, fittings and damaged stock.
"The scheme is available to businesses with up to 20 employees (whole-time equivalents), as well as community, voluntary and sporting bodies which through no fault of their own, cannot secure flood insurance."
It said local authorities officials have been updating the Department of Housing in regards to the scale of the flood damage in the south of the country this week.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney is expected to bring the memo to Government next week to seek approval to activate the Emergency Humanitarian Scheme once his department receives final estimates of the damage and the number of businesses affected, it said.
During today's Cork visit, Mr Varadkar said he was not just there "to express solidarity".
"We're here to say that the emergency services, the public services are here to help with immediate clean up and then in the medium-term we'll put the financial aid in place so that families and businesses can recover and the public infrastructure is fully repaired," he said.
The Taoiseach was in Midleton with Patrick O'Donovan, Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works which has responsibility for flood protection and Minister for Finance Michael McGrath, as well as by local TDs James O'Connor and David Stanton.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne earlier, Mr Varadkar said that in the vast majority of cases people have their own insurance so "this is just to kind of tide them over" and added the Government will also assist those who could not get insurance.
"There will need to be more. It is very evident there is a lot of damage to the roads and a lot of damage to things like walls", he said.
Mr Varadkar said there are different flood schemes in some places, which work very well, and in others not as well as they get stuck in planning over environmental issues.
"Some are built, some are being built and some are stuck in the planning process," he said.
He added that there is often a lot of opposition to flood schemes as they can have an impact on the habitat and wildlife.
He also said that a flood relief scheme for Midleton was "being progressed" but that the Government "can't cut corners".
'Carnage' across the county
The speed at which the floods swept across the area took many by surprise.
A Status Orange rainfall warning was in place, but few were expecting damage to be this significant.
Mr Coveney said the flooding has "caused carnage" across the county.
⚠️ Storm Babet ⚠️
— Heather Humphreys (@HHumphreysFG) October 18, 2023
Support is available from @welfare_ie for households impacted by Storm Babet. 👇 @welfare_ie @MetEireann pic.twitter.com/oVTQ5s96PE
Mr Martin thanked the more than 100 Civil Defence Volunteers and Defence Force members who were deployed during the storm.
He said: "My thoughts are with the households and businesses affected by the fierce flooding on Wednesday across Co Cork, Cork City and west Waterford. It is a very distressing time for many people.
"I want to thank the Civil Defence volunteers and Defence Forces members who have provided essential assistance in flood relief efforts - working long hours in very challenging conditions to help those affected by the terrible flooding.
"It is important to also recognise the companies and businesses who have freed up the volunteers from their day jobs to provide this emergency assistance.
"The significant investment made by the Department of Defence in professional training was key to the state response to this incident."
Cork County Council said that more than 100 properties were inundated with water after a month's rain fell in less than 24 hours.
Head of forecasting at Met Éireann Eoin Sherlock said "an awful lot of rain" fell in a relatively short period of time, coupled with heavily saturated ground, which then coincided with high tides, exacerbated the issue.
Asked whether a Status Red warning should have been issued, Mr Sherlock said Met Éireann issues warnings based on best guidance from two models - an Irish model and a European model - with international collaborations.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said the warnings were modified and said there were "one or two stations where it creeped into red territory, other parts of Cork where it was orange level in terms of amount of rainfall and the parts of Cork were below or even just creeping into yellow."
Read more:
Live updates as they happen
Storm Babet: Homes, businesses count costs
Children driven home by teacher when flooding cancels school bus
Cork city centre - usually a victim in flooding episodes - somehow escaped, although Blackpool and the Commons Road areas of the city were hit.
Many towns and villages east of that were devastated, including the heavily populated Glanmire/Riverstown suburb, and Midleton, Whitegate, Cloyne, Castlemartyr and Killeagh suffered massive damage.
A decision will be made later this morning whether to evacuate around 30 patients from the community hospital in Midleton.
Chief Officer for the Cork Kerry Community Healthcare Area Tess O'Donovan said the damage on site appears to be significant.
In Northern Ireland, a Yellow warning for rain will be in effect from 3am tomorrow until 9am on Saturday for Antrim, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry, with showers or longer spells of rain forecast, particularly for eastern areas.
Spot flooding on the N81 citybound at Springfield this morning
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) October 19, 2023
💡 Remember, wipers on, lights on pic.twitter.com/8CuUAmKQRL
Additional reporting: Colman O'Sullivan, PA
