Hurricane Ophelia kills, damages electricity in Ireland

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Hurricane Ophelia: Thousands lose power as storm hits Ireland – BBC News

16 October 2017

Thousands are without power in southern Ireland as the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia reach the British Isles.

The Met Office has warned of “potential danger to life”, with winds off the south coast of Ireland reaching 109mph (176km/h) at Fastnet Rock.

In the Republic of Ireland, Met Eireann has issued a red wind warning and the government has deployed the army.

An amber warning for Northern Ireland, Wales, south west Scotland and the Isle of Man is in force until 23:00 BST.

From the Irish Times today:

Hurricane Ophelia: 230,000 without power as monster storm hits

Woman killed after tree falls on car as storm hits the southwest with winds of over 160 km/h

Patrick Logue, Seán Dunne

Some 230,000 homes are without power on Monday as Hurricane Ophelia sweeps in over Ireland with damaging gusts and heavy rainfall.

Members of the public have been advised to stay inside and not to make unnecessary journeys as the worst storm the country has seen in more than 50 years passes over. Public transport services have been cancelled countrywide and there have been a series of road closures, including the M8 motorway.

The death of a woman in the hurricane has been confirmed. A tree fell on the car in Aglish, Co Waterford, according to a spokeswoman for Waterford County Council. Gardai say the woman driving the car in her 20s died when the car was struck and a passenger in her 50s was injured.

Power outage

As of 1pm, approximately 230,000 electricity customers were without power, with the main areas impacted in the southern half of the country including Counties Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Limerick. The ESB expects this to rise significantly in the coming hours and could take several days to restore power.

There are widerspread reports from the counties of fallen trees and blocked road with the extreme weather moves through the southwest and southeast.

The storm winds have hit the south-west and south Leinster and are moving quickly up across the country. Met Éireann is warning that violent and destructive gusts of 120km/h are expected countrywide and that winds could exceed these value in some exposed and coastal areas.

Met Eireann has said the eye of the storm passed over Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry.It has reported gusts as high as 160 km/h with extremely severe conditions across Cork and Kerry.

“The most severe winds over Munster and south Leinster at present will extend quickly to the rest of the country this afternoon,” according to Met Éireann.

“The heaviest of the hurricane winds will be down along the south and east coast of the Irish sea. As the storm moves along, there’s another extra core going to fed into Co Clare and the West Coast of Galway. The estimated time of the secondary core is 3pm. …

The public have been advised to stay indoors and the Government’s crisis management committee, the National Emergency Co-ordination Group, met this morning and warned against all unnecessary travel.

Ophelia: Man dies in ‘chainsaw accident’ in Ireland during storm: here.

UPDATE: Three people die in Storm Ophelia incidents: here.

Brother Kevin Crowley, who runs the Capuchin Day Centre for homeless people in central Dublin, has criticised the Government for failing to make timely provision for rough sleepers during Storm Ophelia: here.