Numerous cars parked along the quays beside Dublin's river Liffey were swamped by the rising tide yesterday afternoon.
Scooping flood water from the inside of her car with a bottle, one woman told The Irish Times said she has "had better Friday afternoons".
A worker with a transport company based close to the quays, she parked her Renault Clio in her usual place, Victoria Quay, opposite the Guinness brewery. Things were fine when she parked it for work in the morning. By 2.30 p.m. the Liffey had burst its banks and the water had saturated the seats of her car. When the water level subsided enough, two work colleagues reversed their cars out of the flooded area. The water had almost reached the roof of several cars along the street.
Mr Brendan McNally said his Opel Corsa was "destroyed - totally destroyed". Ms Denise O'Brien's Ford Fiesta was reversed out of the flood. She said they had been let out of work early to try and salvage their vehicles.