Severe gales force Titanic museum to close its doors

THE Titanic museum has been forced to close after high winds from Storm Kathleen damaged the roof of the attraction for the second time this year.

Titanic Belfast said in a statement that it has taken the precautionary measure to close until tomorrow as a result of damage to the museum’s roof at the weekend.

Ongoing heavy rain and strong winds have limited the musuem’s ability to access the roof to assess the damage and for repair work to be carried out.

In January, the museum was forced to close for more than a week after Storm Isha wreaked havoc on the roof.

The six-storey attraction, which opened in 2012, is located on the spot where the Titanic was designed, built and launched before it hit an iceberg in the Atlantic on April 15 1912, leading to 1,517 deaths.

Footage from BBC NI at the weekend showed part of the roof peeling back as it was struck by gusts of wind.

In the statement, Titanic Belfast said: “The safety of the public and its staff are Titanic Belfast’s priority and, as such, access to the building and surrounding plaza are closed and customers are being asked not to come to the site.

“All prebooked customers and clients affected by the closure will be notified and refunded.

“Once again, we apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

Storm Kathleen has caused chaos across the UK and Ireland. Some 34,000 homes and businesses were left without power in Ireland on Saturday as the storm raged.

Travellers have also been left stranded as 140 flights from UK airports were cancelled, ferry services between Northern Ireland and Scotland disrupted and train services in Scotland operated on a slower schedule.

The Met Office has issued a yellow wind warning that came into force yesterday morning, affecting parts of Scotland including the east and northern Highlands, the Isle of Skye and the Hebrides.

Winds as high as 73 mph have been recorded in South Lanarkshire.

The Met Office has warned of potential damage to buildings, power cuts, poor mobile phone coverage and danger to life because of large waves and debris from beaches being thrown on to seafronts.