Questions have been asked whether a weather warning that was in place for Kerry yesterday should have been upgraded to a status red warning.
The issue was brought up at the monthly meeting of Kerry County Council.
A status yellow wind warning was in place for Kerry as Storm Fergus made landfall yesterday.
However, Fine Gael councillor Aoife Thornton says there was a lot of damage caused during the alert.
She told the meeting that serious damage had been done in both the Listowel and Tralee areas; she didn’t state where exactly or what type of damage was caused but advised council management that she could provide them with further information.
Cllr Thornton says she’s aware the Kerry Severe Weather Coordination Team meet during serious weather events and she stated she’d been asked to question whether the alert should have been upgraded to a status red warning, instead of it remaining at yellow level.
She acknowledged the challenges posed by having so many weather warnings, and the various types, issued together and the need to continue to make people aware of them.
In response, Chief Executive of the Kerry County Council, Moira Murrell stated the council is not the weather authority, adding the local authority is advised by Met Éireann for such alerts.
Ms Murrell stated when such a warning is at orange level, the council’s own protocols kick-in in terms of the severe weather response.
She says at no stage over the weekend did the warning for Kerry exceed a yellow level warning.
Ms Murrell says the council’s crews were out and says she was advised of minor damage around the county, but added she was anxious to hear about more serious damage that was caused.
