2 killed by floods in Ireland

The bodies of a police officer swept away as he tried to help motorists and a woman drowned in a Dublin house were found Tuesday, authorities in Ireland said.Heavy rain caused severe flooding Monday in eastern Ireland and in Northern Ireland.Colleagues said Police Officer Ciaran Jones, 25, of Manor Kilbride was off duty when he tried to cross the Ballysmuttan Bridge over the River Liffey to warn a driver about flooding Monday night, The Irish Times reported. He was caught by a surge of water.His body was found Tuesday about 2 1/2 miles downstream."He was seen for a few moments by friends and then he wasn't seen again," Superintendent Eamon Keogh of the Blessington Garda said.The woman who drowned in Dublin was apparently trapped in the basement of a house. Neighbors identified her as Celia de Jesus, a native of the Philippines who worked in a hospice.A neighborhood told the broadcaster RTE he heard crying from the basement late Monday and tried to break in. About 5 minutes later, he said, the crying ceased.North of the border in County Tyrone, the village of Beragh was flooded when the Cloughfin River overtopped its banks, the Belfast Telegraph reported. Some residents had to be rescued from their homes by boat.