Receding flood waters and lighter winds allowed the great clean-up to get under way in the south-west yesterday.
Businesses and homeowners began to count the cost of three days of flooding in the region where damage to property could run to many millions of pounds.
Hundreds of houses had electricity again yesterday after ESB crews worked for almost two days to restore normality. Many outlying areas in Co Cork were without power on Sunday and Monday. Train services between Cork and Dublin returned to normal, but Dublin-bound trains from Cork were running only as far as Kildare and at reduced speed.
A spokesman for Iarnrod Eireann said the Cork-Cobh rail link as well as the Cork-Kerry services were running to schedule. The Swansea-Cork ferry sailing to Wales left Cork on time yesterday, a spokesman said.
The worst-hit areas in Cork were Mallow and Fermoy, where the Blackwater burst its banks. Mallow racecourse was completely under water, and the Blackwater valley was awash for miles, affecting farmland, secondary roads and primary routes.
Shop-owners in Mallow town centre began cleaning up, and some private home-owners were still in alternative accommodation as attempts were made to dry out houses. Mr Gerry Twomey, a businessman, said damage to the town had been substantial.
"We are used to floods here, but I think this one was as bad as we have experienced in more than a decade. Many businesses have been affected, and the damage is going to run to many hundreds of thousands of pounds." The worst-hit town in the region was Fermoy, where estimates suggest the bill could exceed £1 million. Mr Michael Hanley, chairman of Fermoy Enterprise Board, said the damage had been worse than in the past.
Some shops had up to three feet of water as the Blackwater continued to rise. Those affected included night-club owners, shops selling electrical goods, private home-owners and publicans.
However, Ms Angela Donnellan, proprietor of the Avondhu bar in Fermoy, refused to leave her premises and battled the rising water through the day to minimise damage. Despite her efforts, she estimated damage to be thousands of pounds.
Mr Antonio Talossil, who operates a fast-food outlet, estimated damage to his premises to be more than £5,500. Mr Michael Bartley, who runs a photography business, said his losses might also be as high as £5,000.
One problem, said Mr Sean Cavanagh, owner of the Grand Hotel, is that it is impossible to get insurance cover in an area prone to flooding. Therefore in towns such as Fermoy businesses had to shoulder exceptionally heavy costs.
So serious was the flooding that BUPA Ireland had to call in special four-wheel-drive vehicles to ferry its 90 staff to work through the floods.
During the worst of the storm, Cork fire brigade responded to more than 300 emergency calls, mainly from stranded homeowners and motorists trapped in their cars.
One woman who used her mobile phone to call the fire brigade was standing on the roof of her car when rescued near Blarney on Sunday night.
A lorry-driver, Mr Chris Slattery, was recovering in Mallow General Hospital yesterday after getting into difficulties in floods near Mallow.
He had decided to abandon his truck, but when he got out of the cab he stepped into almost six feet of water and was swept away by the current. He was rescued by Second Lieut William O'Meara (22) from Mallow.