Ireland weather: Heavy rain and thunderstorm warnings issued

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Warnings of heavy rain and thunderstorms are in place across the island of Ireland on Sunday night.

Met Éireann has issued a yellow warning for the Republic of Ireland from 19:00 local time on Sunday until 03:00 on Monday.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms across large parts of Northern Ireland.

That warning is in place from 20:00 BST on Sunday until 04:00 on Monday.

The yellow warning covers counties Down and Armagh and large parts of counties Antrim, Londonderry and Tyrone.

A yellow warning means there is the possibility of disruption to travel due to the weather.

'Flooding an annual event'

There has already been flooding in County Tyrone after heavy rainfall on Saturday.

Pitches at Drumquin Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club and Drumquin United Football Club flooded after a river burst its banks, meaning matches had to be cancelled.

Image source, Cara Coll
Image caption,

The flooding in Drumquin has affected two sports clubs

Sam Dennison, the chairman of the football club, said flooding of the pitches happens on a yearly basis.

He said: "It seems to be an annual event but this time it's come earlier - normally it's later in the autumn, I've never seen it in September before.

"It recedes pretty quickly but I'm concerned about the debris that's left behind.

"I'm worried about all the pre-season work that has went into the pitch - sanding, fertilising and re-seeding.

"All that is going to be impacted on."

In many counties in the Republic of Ireland there was heavy rain for much of Saturday and into Sunday morning.

More than 70,000 people attending the Electric Picnic festival in Stradbally in County Laois over the weekend have had to deal with heavy downpours.