Lahinch, Ireland - A woman died as
Tropical Storm Ophelia battered Ireland's southern coast on
Monday, knocking down trees and power lines and whipping up
10-metre waves.
About 210,000 homes and businesses were without electricity
with more outages expected and almost 150 flights were cancelled
from Ireland's two main airports at Dublin and Shannon.
The woman in her mid-20s was killed by a tree falling on her
car in the southeastern county of Waterford, police said. A
female passenger in her 50s was injured.
The storm, downgraded from a hurricane overnight, was the
worst to hit Ireland in half a century. It made landfall after
0940 GMT, the Irish National Meteorological Service said, with
winds as strong as 176 kph (110 mph) hitting the most southerly
tip of the country and flooding likely.
"These gusts are life threatening. Do not be out there," the
chairman of Ireland's National Emergency Coordination Group Sean
Hogan said on national broadcaster RTE.
Schools, hospitals and public transport services were closed
and the armed forces were sent to bolster flood defences. Photos
on social media showed the roof of a stand at Cork City soccer
club's Turner's Cross stadium had collapsed.
Hurricane force winds are expected in every part of the
country, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said, advising people to
stay indoors. Ireland's transport minister said it was not safe
to drive.
"While the storm in some parts of the country is not yet
that bad, it is coming your way," Varadkar told a news
conference as the storm began to make its way across the
country.
Britain's meteorological service put an Amber Weather
Warning into effect for Northern Ireland from 1400-2100 GMT,
saying the storm posed a danger to life and was likely to cause
transport cancellations, power cuts and flying debris.
"Impactful weather" is expected in other western and
northern parts of the United Kingdom, it said.
British media are comparing Ophelia to the "Great Storm" of
1987, which subjected parts of the United Kingdom to hurricane
strength winds 30 years ago to the day.
The storm is expected to move towards western Scotland
overnight.
The Irish government said the storm is likely to be the
worst since Hurricane Debbie, which killed 11 in Ireland in
1961.
It is likely to pass close to a west of Ireland golf course
owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been planning a
wall to protect its greens from coastal erosion.
Similar sized storms in the past have changed the shape of
stretches of the Irish coastline, climatologists said.