Terrifying force of nature few of us will forget
OPHELIA will live long in the memory after the storm battered the country leaving a trail of death and destruction. The families of those who lost their loved ones will never forget the day the hurricane smashed in from the Atlantic. From first thing we were pounded by a “once-in-a-lifetime” storm that is becoming all too common. The West and South were the first to feel the tempest’s full force. Fallen trees blocked many roads around the country and the danger they pose hit home with the deaths of people in Waterford and Louth. A man also died while trying to clear a fallen tree from a road in Co Tipperary. There was travel misery for tens of thousands of commuters as Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus pulled most of their services.
DEADLY
But most people heeded the warnings from Met Eireann and the civil authorities by staying in. Many of the country’s normally busy motorways were eerily quiet. If there can be anything positive to come from a deadly storm it was our preparedness for its arrival. Met Eireann had predicted the extent of its power and path incredibly accurately and had extended a Status Red alert to the entire country on Sunday night. This prompted the authorities to take emergency measures and the correct decision to shut every school in the country was made. The decision to keep them closed for a second day after a meeting of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group yesterday was also right. The effectiveness of the organisation in preparing for the worst storm to hit the country since the early 1960s was in marked contrast to how other natural disasters were handled. Many people will remember how the country came to a complete standstill during a snowstorm similar to those which hit our EU neighbours annually. While the storm caused misery for many with Irish Rail curtailing services, this was rightly done in the interests of safety. DART and Commuter services were also stopped by 2pm in the capital as the storm began to hit. The majority of flights from Cork airport were cancelled, while Dublin Airport confirmed 160 flights had been axed.