Ireland on lockdown as ex-Hurricane Ophelia hits

by Dramelin 7:30 AM 0 comments

At least one woman was killed when a tree fell on her car in County Waterford, a spokesman for Ireland`s national police, An Garda Siochana, told CNN.
to cover the entire country through Monday, cautioning that there was a "danger to life and property.
" A woman photographs the sunrise in Penarth, Wales as Ophelia approaches on October 16, 2017.
A woman surfing on Lahinch Strand in County Clare, Ireland, on October 15, 2017, on the eve of Ophelia`s arrival.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday morning, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar advised everyone in the country to stay indoors until the storm passes, urging people to work from home where possible and "take care of the elderly around you.
" "I don`t want anyone to think that this is anything other than a national emergency," Varadkar added.
The National Hurricane Center earlier warned that "a dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center of the post-tropical cyclone makes landfall.
" The surge would be accompanied by large and destructive waves, it said.
Ireland prepares Over 100,000 homes and businesses were without power s the storm traveled up Ireland`s west coast, according to state-owned electricity provider ESB Networks.
Officials have advised against all unnecessary travel.
Ireland`s Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) asked that people stay away from coastal areas.
UK warnings "Although parts of the UK may experience severe conditions, it`s important to realize that not all areas will be affected by this ex-hurricane," it said in a weekend advisory.
"For example, much of eastern England will be unusually warm for the time of year but quite breezy on Monday and Tuesday.
" The National Hurricane Center said Ophelia is forecast to produce 2 to 3 inches of rain with isolated totals nearing 4 inches through Tuesday across western Ireland and Scotland.
National Hurricane Center "Gale-force winds are expected to begin across southern Ireland during the next few hours and gradually spread northward across the country during the day on Monday.
Hurricane-force winds are forecast to reach the southern portions of Ireland by Monday afternoon," the center said.
"Strong winds will then spread across the remainder of Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom into Monday night.
Preparations to protect lives and property should be complete.
" The center said it would no longer be issuing advisories on Ophelia, with Irish and British meteorology services providing future forecasts and warnings.
Record breaker Ophelia`s position is the farthest east that a major hurricane has traveled in the Atlantic.
The previous record was held by Hurricane Frances in 1980, according to CNN meteorologist Haley Brink.
Frances formed off the northwest coast of Africa near Senegal, according to an archived National Hurricane Center report.
Frances never made landfall.
"The odd part about Ophelia is seeing this intensification take place in what`s normally a much cooler region of the Atlantic Ocean," CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar said.
CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam said warm ocean waters in the Atlantic had allowed Ophelia to form.
"Now that Ophelia is moving over colder waters in the northern latitudes of the Atlantic, it is losing its tropical characteristics," he said.
Ophelia is the sixth major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic basin hurricane season and the 10th consecutive named storm in the Atlantic to become a hurricane.
The latter milestone ties a record that has occurred three times, most recently in 1893.
That storm made landfall in Cornwall, southwest England, with winds of 120 mph (about 190 kph), making it the equivalent of a Category 3 Hurricane.
It was not technically a hurricane as it had formed in the Bay of Biscay rather than in the tropics.