Met Eireann’s Evelyn Cusack has criticised social media users for issuing fake weather reports as Storm Brendan threatens to wreak havoc on the country today.

The Head of Forecasting issued a request to people to stop tweeting fabricated weather reports, branding it extremely irresponsible and warned members of the public to beware of fake news.

Speaking on Sean O’Rourke’s show on RTE Radio 1 this morning, she said that people have been putting out fake weather charts ahead of Storm Brendan reaching landmass.

“I just want to say, could I ask people to stop tweeting fake weather warnings and fake weather charts,” she said.

“There’s some really crazy stuff out there and it’s very irresponsible. There’s a whole of fake weather charts with red warnings on them and everything.

“The Met Eireann warnings are out, we spent the last two days considering this very carefully. We’ve a full team of people here with the best high resolution model.”

She has advised people to take the advice of the local authorities, the gardai and the coastguard and not be misled by unofficial weather sources.

“Maybe some people think they are better at forecasting (the weather) by looking out their window than the full team at Met Eireann. We run a 24/7 operation paid for by the citizens of Ireland,” she said.

She added that she found it “personally astounding” and appealed for social media users to be more responsible.

Ms Cusack also warned about the band of thunderstorms moving eastwards which may lead to more power outages.

A Status Red gale warning is in place as southerly winds reach storm force during Monday on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish sea, with violent storm force winds expected at times.

Nationally, there’s a Status Orange wind warning with the worst of the weather expected to batter the country this afternoon.

Extreme winds and heavy rainfall are expected alongside coastal flooding.

• Read more: Homeowners and motorists warned to prepare for Storm Brendan

Source: Read Full Article