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

MidMan25

Castlemartyr and Cloyne in Cork - Estimated power restore time 19th Oct.

Hard to believe power is going to be out for 72 hours+ for 1000s of homes so close to major roads and towns.

LirW

We're pretty rural and had power from 7pm to 11pm, since then it was gone again and didn't come back. We packed our stuff and left for Dublin to stay with my In-laws. We have a little baby and it's highly inconvenient without power and hot water since we have to make her bottles. My 7yo will miss school for the coming two days, I feel sorry for that but we don't have heating, shower, toilet and no kettle to boil water for the baby on a regular base.
Estimated time for restore is the 20th.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ESB was saying that some people may be without power for up to 10 days.
I wonder if they're taking the possibility of more bad weather over the weekend into account there?

Autochange

LirW wrote: »

We're pretty rural and had power from 7pm to 11pm, since then it was gone again and didn't come back. We packed our stuff and left for Dublin to stay with my In-laws. We have a little baby and it's highly inconvenient without power and hot water since we have to make her bottles. My 7yo will miss school for the coming two days, I feel sorry for that but we don't have heating, shower, toilet and no kettle to boil water for the baby on a regular base.
Estimated time for restore is the 20th.

Our power was out for half an hour so i fired up the petrol engine generator. ESB had it back on before the spuds were boiled.

Gavlor

https://twitter.com/severeweathereu/status/920321053636874240

juneg

On balance was storm Ophelia worst in Cork where it first made landfall? It was scary looking at the gardens where the school roof blew into, like if someone had just gone out into their own perfectly secured back garden they could have been killed by it.

MidMan25

juneg wrote: »

On balance was storm Ophelia worst in Cork where it first made landfall? It was scary looking at the gardens where the school roof blew into, like if someone had just gone out into their own perfectly secured back garden they could have been killed by it.

Without a doubt

pad199207

To be down in South Wexford last night was surreal. There’s a high bit on Forth Mountain where you can view south and usually see the lights of all the towns and villages.

Last night just a black darkness across the land with the odd red beacon light from a water tower or wind turbine.

So lucky in Kildare to have electricity

Mountainsandh

Making the most of mobile coverage partially restored here (ie very poor but it's something). West Waterford. Very thankful for red warning, and school closures. I have often felt I took chances with my health/life in times of bad snow/floods just because I hate missing work (teacher). I didn't have to take chances this time, just as good since there were 2 live wires and 5 fallen trees only on the 3 mile section to the main road (itself blocked by more fallen trees).
Don't think we'll have electricity back for a while, water and heating gone too since they're electricity dependant, looking forward to work back in civilisation today.
It's so easy to pass judgement when you're nice and cosy in an unaffected Dublin suburb.
If you'll excuse me I have to go boil an economical ration of water I got in tesco yesterday on my precious gas hob for a semblance of hygiene to face the work day. It was great I had the bathtub full before the storm thanks to red warning but it only lasts so long with kids.
Red warning and work/school closures saved many lives and saved many working people from injury here so even economically it made great sense.

Pro tip : ensure torchlights have a stand or lanyard when purchasing, there are many activities that require both hands and light from above, like filling toilet cistern or a cup of tea in the dark

secman

Took a spin down to North wexford last night, emptied the freezer, salvaged about half of the contents. Remembered I had a petrol generator, brand new in a box in the garage, loaned it to a neighbour, headed back up to Dublin. I was in work on Monday up to about 2 o'clock, driving home was like driving on Christmas day, roads were almost completely empty. That alone most certainly saved lives from falling tree's.
South of the country was hammered, just look at esb power check map. Can't put a price on a "life" everything thing else can be replaced. We are paying our staff whether they showed up , and were later sent home or stayed at home, they all made judgement calls for different reasons.
Condolences to the families of the 3 people who lost their lives.... there go I but for the grace of God.

NIMAN

As someone who lives in the north of Donegal, I have been getting a little fed up by people here saying "it was all overhyped nonsense, we've get many days stormier than that every winter".

Yes we do because we escaped the worst of the storm. We should count ourselves very lucky.

The fact that I had no damage, no power outage, no trees down etc is a relief to me. But I understand it wasn't overhyped because I have eyes and can see the news from the South and West and see how hard they were hit. I understand how significant it is to have had 450,000 people without power, many still without power. I can imagine trying to get my family up for school today with no power or heat.

jumpjack

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Christ your logic.  Deaths didn't reach the typical road user death toll = Storm not bad.

You did see the link I posted? Do you think that 100 year old trees with roots going down into concrete blow over with nominal gusts.

The storm, was horrific in some parts of the country, just because you didn't witness it 1st hand doesn't mean it wasn't.

However, I'll stop posting facts, when you have evidence in front of you and you choose to ignore it the intelligent person will just stop trying.

That's the point mate.

The storm might have been bad in some localised areas (the South coast). It was very unremarkable for most of the rest of the country. You can't seem to say that here without essentially being accused of dancing on the graves of the unfortunate people who passed away.

This storm was extraordinary in many ways:

• red sky all over France, Irland and UK (never seen before, there; seen 1 per month in southern Europe!)

• dry storm (many videos show 10 meters waves under "clear" sky!)

• very local: 140 km/h in some places, 30 km/h in others

• very unusual: got strength while moving north across Atlantic

Evidences:
https://youtu.be/3GfNdL0E5T8

https://youtu.be/g4jbl2dZ1Fs (please disregard clickbait cover image....)


Baltimore Beacon, south-west of Irland; 5km north-east of Fastnet Lighthouse, which recorded 169 km/h gusts.

https://twitter.com/BaltimoreSafari/status/919981823681232896

Usually:

http://twitter.comIrelandB4UDie/status/871785481268277248

Cantona's Collars

I had a rant in AH thread about employers attitude to the storm. Mine was appalling,they let staff go to work and even after arguments with management they were still reticent to let staff home with many having to travel to rural areas.Staff eventually started to leave as the storm was beginning to peak.
My manager had a very blasé opinion about it and said work could have went on as we never lost power.

LirW

secman wrote: »

Took a spin down to North wexford last night, emptied the freezer, salvaged about half of the contents. Remembered I had a petrol generator, brand new in a box in the garage, loaned it to a neighbour, headed back up to Dublin. I was in work on Monday up to about 2 o'clock, driving home was like driving on Christmas day, roads were almost completely empty. That alone most certainly saved lives from falling tree's.
South of the country was hammered, just look at esb power check map. Can't put a price on a "life" everything thing else can be replaced. We are paying our staff whether they showed up , and were later sent home or stayed at home, they all made judgement calls for different reasons.
Condolences to the families of the 3 people who lost their lives.... there go I but for the grace of God.

We're just at the SW Wicklow - NW Wexford border and we're shut off electricity for probably the next 2 - 3 days and we went to Dublin now to stay with my in-laws since we have a small baby. My 7yo is going to miss school for today and tomorrow but I'd rather have him miss school than managing with a baby that needs bottles a few times a day somehow.
A few power cables down just around our house.

spookwoman

I saw a post on twitter at one stage by someone in a state looking for help, wondering if anywhere open to get food, it was frightening for them, and i think they had no electricity, people starting asking if they needed a place to stay and then the reply was they were with family. FFS I mean how hard is it to make a sandwich if you are hungry in a storm! I can understand with a baby need hot water etc but alot of people out there don't seem to know how to survive without power for a few hours.

emo72

My abiding memory of the storm in West Dublin, was it was sunny when the wind was strongest, and I was watching the rain from my bedroom and it was"falling" horizontally. It was weird watching it go from left to right and not hitting the ground. The rain was really fine light stuff and the ground wasn't really wet. Mad.

banoffe2

Hi OP
I had a family come to me Monday at 4 with their freezer as they were without power, they were on their way to a hotel as they said sure you couldn't manage , their kids are 7 to 11 years old.

While they were here I cooked some stuff for them, the mother cut up the food for all three kids, they couldn't wait to get away from my place to the hotel, I felt so blessed to have power and a nice cosey humble home

I gave them toys to play with that I had kept from my own adult kids, all kids who come here are fascinated with them and love playing with them. These kids threw them in the corner and had zero interest in them, the parents said the kids didn't know what to do without their X boxes and games, I was amazed with the kids behaviour and the consequences for their social development, they didn't communicate with me when I made the effort, no eye contact, and the parents responded for them. I see the same when I visit their home, they are thrown on the recliners, playing games, whinging constantly, no outdoor activities or creative play, and always complaining to the mother or father about a pain or an ache attention seeking. Parents never go out or go away on a break, they had to go away once and the kids tormented them begging them to come home. They have no responsibilities or chores and need constant excitement.

They rand me the following day to say the kids were wrecked after the hotel? they were in bed at 10.30pm??
I just simply don't get it, perhaps I haven't moved with e times, how on earth could kids be wrecked after staying in a hotel?

This is purely an opinion, I am probably old fashioned:)

The Moldy Gowl

banoffe2 wrote: »

Hi OP
I had a family come to me Monday at 4 with their freezer as they were without power, they were on their way to a hotel as they said sure you couldn't manage , their kids are 7 to 11 years old.

While they were here I cooked some stuff for them, the mother cut up the food for all three kids, they couldn't wait to get away from my place to the hotel, I felt so blessed to have power and a nice cosey humble home

I gave them toys to play with that I had kept from my own adult kids, all kids who come here are fascinated with them and love playing with them. These kids threw them in the corner and had zero interest in them, the parents said the kids didn't know what to do without their X boxes and games, I was amazed with the kids behaviour and the consequences for their social development, they didn't communicate with me when I made the effort, no eye contact, and the parents responded for them. I see the same when I visit their home, they are thrown on the recliners, playing games, whinging constantly, no outdoor activities or creative play, and always complaining to the mother or father about a pain or an ache attention seeking. Parents never go out or go away on a break, they had to go away once and the kids tormented them begging them to come home. They have no responsibilities or chores and need constant excitement.

They rand me the following day to say the kids were wrecked after the hotel? they were in bed at 10.30pm??
I just simply don't get it, perhaps I haven't moved with e times, how on earth could kids be wrecked after staying in a hotel?

This is purely an opinion, I am probably old fashioned:)

Millenials amirite

Larbre34

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/status-red-the-man-who-helped-ireland-ride-the-storm-1.3259882

Interesting retrospective on the management of Ophelia

Middle Man

In Meath, we got very strong winds and yet, damage in the East Meath and Fingal areas seems quite limited. However, the gusts ramped up to their maximum speed rather than the sudden wind spikes that we frequently experience in storms - would that have anything to do with the limited damage we experienced? That said, we’ve been without power for well over 24hrs which is why I haven’t been on here since Monday evening.

0byme75341jo28

banoffe2 wrote: »

Hi OP
I had a family come to me Monday at 4 with their freezer as they were without power, they were on their way to a hotel as they said sure you couldn't manage , their kids are 7 to 11 years old.

While they were here I cooked some stuff for them, the mother cut up the food for all three kids, they couldn't wait to get away from my place to the hotel, I felt so blessed to have power and a nice cosey humble home

I gave them toys to play with that I had kept from my own adult kids, all kids who come here are fascinated with them and love playing with them. These kids threw them in the corner and had zero interest in them, the parents said the kids didn't know what to do without their X boxes and games, I was amazed with the kids behaviour and the consequences for their social development, they didn't communicate with me when I made the effort, no eye contact, and the parents responded for them. I see the same when I visit their home, they are thrown on the recliners, playing games, whinging constantly, no outdoor activities or creative play, and always complaining to the mother or father about a pain or an ache attention seeking. Parents never go out or go away on a break, they had to go away once and the kids tormented them begging them to come home. They have no responsibilities or chores and need constant excitement.

They rand me the following day to say the kids were wrecked after the hotel? they were in bed at 10.30pm??
I just simply don't get it, perhaps I haven't moved with e times, how on earth could kids be wrecked after staying in a hotel?

This is purely an opinion, I am probably old fashioned:)

What on Earth does this have to do with Storm Ophelia? :pac:

jumpjack

[font=Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif]The Reading-based European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting bases its medium-range forecasts on 10,000 surface weather stations, 7,000 ships, more than 1,000 buoys, 1,000 upper atmosphere stations, 3,000 commercial aircraft and 66 satellites.[/font]

What are these? Baloons?

Skyfloater

I'm sure this has been asked and answered a few times, but I don't fancy wading through 400 odd pages. But, how is it that we are not all knee deep in flood water at the moment?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Franco Mango Superstition wrote: »

What on Earth does this have to do with Storm Ophelia? :pac:

I assume it's in reference to the earlier post about a person who couldn't make a sandwich for themselves when the power went off.

I have to say I was amused by the amount of people saying they'd downloaded Netflix content to keep them entertained during the storm. They thought abut the WiFi going but not about the power going, water, food etc.

We're this far off a generation that would starve to death trying to get a phone signal after a major catastrophe.

Nettle Soup

Skyfloater wrote: »

I'm sure this has been asked and answered a few times, but I don't fancy wading through 400 odd pages. But, how is it that we are not all knee deep in flood water at the moment?

I asked the same question.

Oneiric 3 replied with this:

"We had some torrential showers early to mid morning in this part of the county, followed by driving moderate rain during the height of the gale. Nothing exceptional accumulation wise though (around 10mm)".

Certainly less rainfall than expected in the west.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Skyfloater wrote: »

I'm sure this has been asked and answered a few times, but I don't fancy wading through 400 odd pages. But, how is it that we are not all knee deep in flood water at the moment?

Because it was mainly a "dry storm" I believe. Coastal areas got a bit of rain but large parts of the country were just winds. Also it was quite lucky that high tide didn't coincide with the worst of the tidal surges.

NIMAN

I heard an expert on the radio the other day saying it dumped most of its rain over the ocean.

Soccarboy11

yeah, most of the rain was too the west of the system which was mainly over the ocean. The east of the system had the very strong winds, which is mainly why the south/South east got affected in that sense.

jumpjack

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Also it was quite lucky that high tide didn't coincide with the worst of the tidal surges.

This is not completely true: Galway experienced storm surge during high tide... with very bad results!
http://www.digitalocean.ie/Chart/GalwayTideHeight?fullScreen=True
Result:

https://twitter.com/galwaybaypics/status/919968246421389312

Cork was more lucky, with Ophelia hitting during low tide:
http://www.digitalocean.ie/Chart/CorkTideHeight?fullScreen=True

Summary page:
http://www.digitalocean.ie/Dashboard


Again, this storm was "very local" (i.e. strong different symptoms within few kilometers).
Same can be said about upcoming storm: look at local differences in wind speed at 14:00 of 21/10!

https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/charts/catalogue/medium-mslp-wind850?time=2017101800,72,2017102100&projection=classical_europe
10 km/h on center/north, 80 km/h on south!

AlmightyCushion

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I assume it's in reference to the earlier post about a person who couldn't make a sandwich for themselves when the power went off.

I have to say I was amused by the amount of people saying they'd downloaded Netflix content to keep them entertained during the storm. They thought abut the WiFi going but not about the power going, water, food etc.

We're this far off a generation that would starve to death trying to get a phone signal after a major catastrophe.

They could have downloaded those netflix shows to a laptop/phone/tablet which wouldn't need the electricity to keep going so it's not that ridiculous. The shops were closed for the day, most people have enough drinks and food in their house to last them a day so it's not a big deal. It's not like there was a real risk that they would be completely cut off with no access to food, water and supplies and all they were concerned about was their netflix. I don't see what's so laughable about downloading some tv shows to keep you entertained during a potential power cut. I think it would be more ridiculous if people who weren't living in very remote areas were out stocking up on days worth of supplies just for this storm.