Gusts leave trail of destruction across county
IT levelled trees, closed roads, left hundreds of thousands without electricity and, tragically, it claimed three lives nationally.
On Monday, Storm Ophelia hammered Ireland with weather the likes of which the country hadn’t seen for over half a century. For the most part Kerry avoided the worst of the hurricane, although many areas, particularly in the south of the county, were badly hit.
In line with the rest of the country, all of Kerry’s primary, secondary and third-level education centres closed on Monday as Met Éireann issued a status red weather warning and a huge number of businesses and services followed suit.
Kerry Airport closed its doors for Monday with Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann coming to a halt nationwide, while the HSE in Cork and Kerry cancelled all routine appointments, only providing home help where essential, and urged the general public to think carefully before calling emergency services.
The majority of damage could be seen in the south of the county, though Kerry County Council also reported fallen trees and debris in parts of north Kerry such as Lixnaw village, the N69 at Tannavalla, the Ballyhorgan road, Mortara, Ballylongford, and Caherslee.
The worst conditions had passed by around 2.30pm on Monday, and by evening the HSE Kerry and Cork said that work on rescheduling cancelled appointments was underway and set to continue over the coming days.
Kerry Airport reopened as normal on Tuesday, while Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann resumed most of their services as well.
Primary and secondary schools across the county and country remained closed on Tuesday, however.