The North was bracing itself for another 24 hours of continuous rain and gale force winds last night with large parts of Armagh, Down and Antrim affected by flooding and local power cuts.
It has rained non-stop in the south and east of Northern Ireland since Sunday, making driving conditions treacherous and leading to ferry services being cancelled.
Weather forecasters yesterday predicted a further deterioration of conditions as the wind picked up to 60 m.p.h. Almost 350 homes in the Mallusk area on the outskirts of Belfast and in Lisburn, Co Antrim, suffered power cuts for several hours.
A spokesman for the weather centre in Belfast said conditions were unlikely to improve for at least another 24 hours. "It's really more of the same. The low pressure system firmly sits over the British Isles so it is going to remain wet and windy overnight.
Antrim and Down, in particular, are going to bear the brunt of the rain and strong winds. Road conditions certainly look like becoming very poor with lots of surface water and further flooding is likely in places," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
Rail passengers travelling from Belfast to Dublin faced disruption after a landslide blocked the line at Skerries, in north Co Dublin, yesterday afternoon.
Services later resumed, but the northbound route remained suspended for a time. Rail services to Derry, Larne, Co Antrim, and Bangor, Co Down, faced 20minute delays.