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Clean-ups after heavy rain causes flooding in south east

Clean-ups are under way today once again in many parts of the country after further heavy rain overnight caused localised flooding in several areas.

Large parts of the east and south of the county were under the spell of a yellow weather warning for rain from yesterday evening and the forecast downpours duly arrived, with some regions sustaining hours of uninterrupted rainfall.

Today has brought largely dry and indeed sunny conditions across most of the country, giving flood-prone areas some respite and the next couple of days are also expected to be relatively dry.

However, with more rain anticipated later in the week, more flooding cannot be ruled out as we move into winter.

One of the areas worst affected by last night's latest bout of bad weather was Co Wexford, where up to 35mm of rain fell from late evening.

Roads flooded and some routes had to be closed and while the floodwaters had largely receded by this morning, some places were left to clean up afterward.

At the National Heritage Park in Ferrycarrig, outside Wexford town, staff had to close to the public today as a result of flood water ingressing overnight - just two months after the popular visitor attraction reopened following a €1m refurbishment project.

Wexford Racecourse had to call off today's race meeting because of the amount of rain that fell, leaving the course waterlogged

"We get affected by tidal waters here in the park itself," long-serving staff member Bernie Rath explained.

"Unfortunately our newly-renovated building has flooded again. It's quite devastating for us really I suppose, we were nicely settled back in and everything was going so well but unfortunately we're here again today.

Hopefully, we can get back open again very soon and we hope to see everybody around the heritage park again shortly."

Chairman of the trust company that runs the park Adrian Doyle said that some of the measures they took to alleviate flooding, during the renovation project, worked well and saved a lot of their stock and fixtures in the reception building, but the park itself has been deluged.

"I'm not sure when that will subside. This is the worst flooding we've had at the height of the flooding.

The previous flooding was more devastating because we weren't ready at the centre, we were this time at least, but as you can see and from walking around yourself, it's very very substantial."

The indoor section of the National Heritage Park will re-open, all going well, on Monday but it will take longer for the outdoor park sections to re-open as they will have to wait for the waters to subside.

It is a blow in a week when mid-term would normally lead to many schoolchildren and their parents paying a visit, as well as people frequenting the nearby Wexford Festival Opera.

Meanwhile, Wexford Racecourse had to call off today's race meeting - one of the venue's biggest of the season - because of the amount of rain that fell, leaving the course waterlogged.

"Just over the past 24, 48 hours we're after having 35, 40mm of rain and in the previous week there was probably 100mm of rain and the track just wouldn't be able to cope," track foreman Ian Carty said.

"It's a big weekend for Wexford Racecourse, it's a two-day meeting for us so it draws a big crowd usually, our best race of the year is on this time of the year as well, look it will be sad to lose it but it is what it is, we can't do anything about it really, can we?"

While management hope to run their fixture tomorrow (Monday), no decision is likely until the morning.

Browne's Bar and Lounge has rarely been threatened by flood water in the past

In the town itself, flood water ran down many roads, with many property owners employing sandbags and other preventative measures to stave off internal damage.

Browne's Bar and Lounge has rarely been threatened by flood water in the past, but last night was different.

"There was a very heavy deluge of water after exceptionally heavy rain, it came down the road from both sides and around the corner," publican Ger Comerford said.

"The drains didn't take away the flooding water so it moved inside to the lounge area. I was very lucky, we got some sandbags and stopped the deluge from coming in, we're quite happy this morning we have a full clean-up and we're ready to go again."

The pub remains open today and plays host tonight to the Wexford Singing and Swinging Pubs competition.

Wexford County Council is warning the public to be aware of the risk of further tidal flooding tonight, with further localised floodwater a possibility.