THREE DIE AS OPHELIA HITS LAND
CASTLE DOUGLAS TIREE Ireland and UK battered by deadly hurricane winds
THREE people were killed yesterday as Storm Ophelia battered Ireland and the UK.
A man died in Ravensdale, Dundalk, County Louth, after a tree struck the car he was in.
A man in his 30s was killed in a chainsaw accident as he tried to remove a fallen tree in Cahir, County Tipperary.
And a woman in her mid-50s died when her car was hit by a falling tree near the village of Aglish in Waterford.
As the storm hit southern Scotland last night, the roof was ripped off a Scout hut and landed on a church in Castle Douglas, Dumfries-shire.
It wreaked havoc across the region with other buildings damaged, power cut off in some towns and trees brought down.
The UK earlier experienced “martian skies” as they turned red in the west of England and Wales before spreading to other areas.
BBC weather presenter Simon King said it was due to the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia dragging in tropical air and dust from the Sahara desert.
He added that debris from forest fires in Portugal and Spain also played a part. The remnants of the hurricane battered Britain’s west coast in the afternoon, with Scotland braced for strong gusts of up to 80mph in the early hours of this morning. Schools, colleges and universities in Ireland closed as Ophelia approached and homes were left with no power. High winds left the roof of a stand at Cork City’s Turners Cross Stadium lying in a mangled heap. Prime Minister Theresa May offered support to Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar yesterday. A Downing Street spokesman said: “On Storm Ophelia, the Prime Minister expressed her sympathies for the loss of life and said the UK Government stood ready to provide support if requested.”
About 360,000 homes and businesses were left without power as the storm made its way through the Republic.
ESB, the Republic of Ireland’s electricity network, warned that more outages were expected and repairs would take several days.
Officials said that all schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic will remain closed today.
In Wales, about 200 properties suffered power cuts, schools closed and the Cleddau Bridge closed to high-sided vehicles. At the Tiree Wave Classic Windsurfing Championships, in the Inner Hebrides, contestants had to contend with high winds.
Some flights to UK airports were diverted after “smoke smells” on board – thought to relate to the storm. EasyJet said four of their flights were diverted due to “atmospheric circumstances”.
Strictly Come Dancing’s Susan Calman kept her Twitter followers entertained yesterday after dance partner Kevin Clifton suffered delays heading to Glasgow.
She spent six hours updating his travel progress before posting a photo at 6.30pm. Susan tweeted: “Let’s get dancing. He’s here!”