Storm Ophelia - General Discussion/Local reports - See MOD NOTE Post #1

lawred2

Is this thing still classed as a hurricane then?

TomOnBoard

While its showing that the West Coast has Yellow warning level for today (valid from 15.10.2017 05:00 CET Until 15.10.2017 12:00 CET) "Winds of Beaufort force 8 or 9 expected:-see full gale warning at www.met.ie", I see the warning level on MeteoAlarm is showing Ireland as "No special awareness required" for tomorrow.

http://www.meteoalarm.eu/en_UK/1/0/IE-Ireland.html

How does this tally with Met Eireann's website that says:"Another international development of significance is the maturing of the MeteoAlarm system, (see www.meteoalarm.eu) which implies greater co-ordination of warnings across Europe and the coherence of warnings across national boundaries. This has led to the adoption of a common European framework and terminology for the presentation of Weather Warnings, and the alignment of national Weather Warnings Systems with the international MeteoAlarm framework where this is possible."

Someone needs to press the 'Update" button!!

km79

Psychologeeee wrote: »

I'm based in louth, so I'm not sure what the impact here will be, but nonetheless, I have candles/water/non-perishables in, powerbanks charging up for phones, and duct tape to tape up the heavy bin lids.

I wish you were my neighbour as opposed to the lad who has bunting, flags and a wheelbarrow left out in the garden at the moment

Coax

AlekSmart wrote: »

I can well imagine their mystification

Unfortunately our National Psyche is built around a core principle of never being the first one to make a concrete decision,or take direct action on any given issue.

We drive as we vote,sticking to the middle lane or white line,never moving too far to either side,which leaves us with some interesting Driving Scenario's,never mind Political ones.

As for this "Emergency",which has been a steadily developing threat for the past week,the essential element for the National Emergency Committee will be to consider and debate upon how little to do,rather than initiate any large scale co-ordinated response...which might set a precedent.

All these oul County Councillors,City & County Managers,with their accountancy degrees and fingers in various Auctioneering and Property Development businesses,are looking at the longer game,with none of them wanting to be the first to jump,and sanction SPENDING on stuff that might benefit people in times of emergency.

Most of these lads would be less worried about the Storm itself,than the danger of them setting a precedent for future weather events.;)

Well said. Agree 100% with these comments.

We fo not do emergency planning or preparation properly, nor do we take it seriously either at individual or national level.

There are a few organisations such as ESB Networks who plan and exectue exceptionally well who are well placed to offer meaningful advice in a round table planning meeting.

Emergency planning and preparation does not need to cost the earth. The vast majority of it is about being sensible and at a national level providing adequate notice, guidance and information at regular intervals.

It's time the "sure it'll never happen" attitude changes. The preperation for the coming weather is absolutely minimal and common sense.

People worrying about the tree or branch that might fall on their home or vehicle, the roof blowing off the shed or barn demonstrates our attitude to maintenance and construction in general. These sort of things only become an issue if they are not looked after in the regular course of events.

Garden furniture, wheelie buns, trampolines etc are easy to deal with and there is no excuse for any of these items becoming debris.

awec

Asked in the other thread and may be a stupid question, but do people in taller buildings need to be concerned here? Ireland doesn’t really have any truly high rise apartments with 15/16 floors being as high as it goes.

But all this talk of cat2 etc has me a bit concerned but probably unnecessarily so?

iguana

__..__ wrote: »

If schools are open tomorrow. Kids will get to school when the wind is low and then be in danger on the way home. Ridiculous situation.

I'm seeing a load of schools in Limerick issuing notices that they are staying open. It's a really disgraceful position to take in my opinion. It's one day that can be made up in the future if necessary. They should close keep the kids safe and allow families who need to make childcare preparations enough time to do so.

Samaris wrote: »

No harm to have water prepared too, by the way. Fill a bath or a large container with water for washing and toilet-flushing and have water prepared for drinking too.

There is a possibility of contamination of water supplies - particularly wells if the pump goes down for some time, but also large reservoirs and mains water supplies.

Do you really think there is much likelihood of the water supply being disrupted in urban areas?

Sierra Oscar

Chairman of NECC comparing the storm to Debbie, highlighting that 11 lives were lost on that occasion. Stated that this is a serious public safety issue and advised people to stay indoors during the storm.

An Garda Síochána up now advising people against travelling on roads during the storm and encouraging people to check in on vulnerable neighbours and relatives.

Paully D

One of the most problematic things about this I see is that the real trouble isn't scheduled to start until the afternoon.

So those that have been forwarning people about the potential impact will be laughed at in the morning and sibsequently expected to go to work/school/college etc.

Then people are in work/school/college whatever the case may be, and Ophelia really stars to hit during lunchtime and leaving time, resulting in a deadly commute back.

Samaris

km79 wrote: »

I wish you were my neighbour as opposed to the lad who has bunting, flags and a wheelbarrow left out in the garden at the moment

Well, his garden is in for an autumn clean-up...

He might find the bunting in the Irish Sea by Tuesday morning.

stefanovich

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Just watching the NECC press conference. They're advising all schools and childcare facilities to close tomorrow.

Where did you watch this?

MJohnston

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Does anyone know if it would be worth picking up a small camping stove in case for electricity outages? We have a toddler and being able to cook would be useful. I’m flipping from feeling ridiculous for considering it (kildare) and feeling that maybe it would be better to have it just in case of electricity outages

That kind of thing you just have to think about often power outages happen anyway in this country in winter, and even if this storm doesn’t affect you, you’ll still be able to use that equipment again in the future.

Ludo

stefanovich wrote: »

Where did you watch this?

Periscope

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1RDGlnEnvLlxL

Lollipop95

Genuine question - Is this REALLY going to be as bad as people are saying or is it just the usual over dramatics and it will just be a bit of wind?

Sierra Oscar

stefanovich wrote: »

Where did you watch this?

https://twitter.com/KevinPurcell_/status/919524696705589248

ESB up now warning that service disruptions will occur.

dsmythy

Lollipop95 wrote: »

Genuine question - Is this REALLY going to be as bad as people are saying or is it just the usual over dramatics and it will just be a bit of wind?

Depends where you are. Trees falling are likely to be the biggest hazard inland.

lawred2

Has there been any communications about public transport in Dublin? I'm fearing being in work tomorrow and both Irish rail and Dublin bus going into shutdown leaving thousands without means of getting home..

Danno

https://www.pscp.tv/Kevin_UTV/1RDGlnEnvLlxL is broadcasting the current emergency conference, very poor sound, but I *think* Wexford and Waterford are added to the red list.

Lollipop95

dsmythy wrote: »

Depends where you are. Trees falling are likely to be the biggest hazard inland.

I'm in Galway, not sure if it's forecast to hit hard here

Ludo

FFS...strongly advise that schools close. Does anyone have a backbone and make an actual decision to just close them all. At least them people can make plans accordingly.

peasant

Lollipop95 wrote: »

Genuine question - Is this REALLY going to be as bad as people are saying or is it just the usual over dramatics and it will just be a bit of wind?

Depends on where you are

Some people will experience wind (and damage) like they never have before, others will just shrug it of as "another pretty bad winter storm". This will roughly happen on a SE to NW axis

floorpie

lawred2 wrote: »

Has there been any communications about public transport in Dublin? I'm fearing being in work tomorrow and both Irish rail and Dublin bus going into shutdown leaving thousands without means of getting home..

They just said in the press conference that public Bus Eireann services will run in the morning, and review throughout the day. But provisionally, they're running.

Samaris

Lollipop95 wrote: »

Genuine question - Is this REALLY going to be as bad as people are saying or is it the usual over dramatics and it will just be a bit of wind?

Genuinely, it is alarming. We can expect damage in Ireland from this; this is an extremely unusual event and it's going to be a strong one across most of the country, but at the moment, it looks like it's going to be worst on the south coast.

The worst damage tends to take place (especially in terms of lives) when people don't take it seriously, that is the primary danger factor above and beyond exactly what the wind is doing. Ireland is not used to this sort of thing and a lot of people aren't taking it seriously enough, imo.

I wouldn't call it over-dramatic, this is just what's coming in. We won't know until tomorrow just how bad it will be taking into account preparation/lack thereof.

caveat - I'm a lurker, so this is opinion rather than the more expert analysis some of the others can do.

Lollipop95 wrote: »

I'm in Galway, not sure if it's forecast to hit hard here

I'm in Galway too, actually, most of the charts seem to have the eye passing right over where I am, a bit west of the city. Looks like it will be easier on us than on most of the rest of the country, but if it did shift a bit, it could still lamp us to some extent.

Villain

Wexford and Waterford are under Red Warning. Confirmed by Met Eireann at conference

ninebeanrows

There will be no issues getting into work tomorrow but i would anticipate major issues by rush-hour in Dublin.

Wind progressively ramping up from c. 1pm....SE at first, veering S and then SW to W later on....

The southeasterly looks vicious for the east coast with gusts to 130kph progged.

floorpie

Is there a possibility of flooding around the Liffey? Or should this have no effect in that regard?

Sierra Oscar

Ludo wrote: »

FFS...strongly advise that schools close. Does anyone have a backbone and make an actual decision to just close them all. At least them people can make plans accordingly.

You can be sure that all schools will be closed in the red alert areas. No board of management will take the decision to open considering the implications for them if someone is injured given the public warnings that have been issued.

Xenji

Wexford and Waterford are now under the Red Warning, confirmed at the emergency conference.

AllForIt

Just got a txt from my college to say it's closed tomorrow due to weather alert ! Never so delighted to get a notice of a cancellation as I'm totally exhausted. Thanks Ophelia ! : )

BoJack Horseman

adam240610 wrote: »

Wonder if UCD will do anything, have a lab tomorrow afternoon I can't miss and don't fancy the commute from Wicklow

Wexford-Wicklow-Dublin will be hit hardest by the cyclone's arm tomorrow afternoon

140-150kmh gusts.

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=52.88;-5.87;8&l=gust&t=20171016/16

Itssoeasy

floorpie wrote: »

lawred2 wrote: »

Has there been any communications about public transport in Dublin? I'm fearing being in work tomorrow and both Irish rail and Dublin bus going into shutdown leaving thousands without means of getting home..

They just said in the press conference that public Bus Eireann services will run in the morning, and review throughout the day. But provisionally, they're running.

Irish rail tweeted that their services will all be running tomorrow morning and any changes will be communicated if/when they happen.