Storm Ophelia - General Discussion/Local reports - See MOD NOTE Post #1

maryishere

Nettle Soup wrote: »

Galway/Mayo struggled to get winds of 100km+
Those are not Red Warning stats.

My fear is that people will not take the Red status seriously in future.

Hooks Golf Handicap wrote: »

I'm afraid that the legacy of this storm is that a future red warning is not taken as serious or just ignored.

Met E had it bang on Friday evening, I want to know who made the incorrect decision to extend that warning countrywide, my fear is that politicans interfered at the 11th hour through a fear bandwagon lobby.

So we end up with a fiasco of schools closed for 2 days & business losing a days production because there were large gusts.

The politicians made a bid deal out of everything. Galway/Mayo/Sligo/ Leitrim struggled to get winds of 100km+, and the tv reporters were struggling to find footage of any wind damage in those areas. Locals there remember far worse storms. Shutting the whole country down and closing schools for 2 days is madness. One day shutdown was enough.

Every bank holiday weekend in France 50 to 60 people lose their lives on the roads.

Cantona's Collars

oscarBravo wrote: »

You mean people might decide that they know more than the actual experts whose job it is to make such judgement calls? Say it ain't so! Clearly some idiot who didn't have the benefit of your wisdom. I told my employees to stay at home yesterday. I have no regrets, even though it wasn't as bad in Mayo as we expected.

At least you had some cop on.
Better a day at home due to weather than the employees taking time off to attend the funeral of one of their colleagues,a few keyboard hero's who were tucked up at home in a region that missed the worst of it and didn't have to go out in the middle of the storm suddenly became wiser than the experts. I did and it wasn't nice at all with huge boughs and trees falling along the roads.

PeterParker957

maryishere wrote: »

Nettle Soup wrote: »

Galway/Mayo struggled to get winds of 100km+
Those are not Red Warning stats.

My fear is that people will not take the Red status seriously in future.

Hooks Golf Handicap wrote: »

I'm afraid that the legacy of this storm is that a future red warning is not taken as serious or just ignored.

Met E had it bang on Friday evening, I want to know who made the incorrect decision to extend that warning countrywide, my fear is that politicans interfered at the 11th hour through a fear bandwagon lobby.

So we end up with a fiasco of schools closed for 2 days & business losing a days production because there were large gusts.

The politicians made a bid deal out of everything. Galway/Mayo/Sligo/ Leitrim struggled to get winds of 100km+, and the tv reporters were struggling to find footage of any wind damage in those areas. Locals there remember far worse storms. Shutting the whole country down and closing schools for 2 days is madness.

Every bank holiday weekend in France 50 to 60 people lose their lives on the roads.

So three dead is nothing much to you then?

HeidiHeidi

maryishere wrote: »

Every bank holiday weekend in France 50 to 60 people lose their lives on the roads.

WTF has this got to do with anything, on any level?

FrancieBrady

maryishere wrote: »

The politicians made a bid deal out of everything. Galway/Mayo/Sligo/ Leitrim struggled to get winds of 100km+, and the tv reporters were struggling to find footage of any wind damage in those areas. Locals there remember far worse storms. Shutting the whole country down and closing schools for 2 days is madness. One day shutdown was enough.

Every bank holiday weekend in France 50 to 60 people lose their lives on the roads.

If you listened to Met Eireann talking about this you would know that it was a decision made by them. Their advice looking at what was coming was to go a red alert for the whole country because storms do not respect county boundaries.
Perfectly reasonable.

I am in an area that was not particularly heavily affected but there where about 6 trees across the route to my local school.

Sephiroth_dude

Power came back about an hour ago, nearly cracked up without electricity, don't think I go through this again at the weekend if reports are true on that other storm.

Lumi

Rega wrote: »

You had your narrative laid out well in advance. Move along, troll

_Dara_ wrote: »

Subtle? Was very obvious to me that every post of his re: the storm has been trolling.

Rebelbrowser wrote: »

Really subtle trolling. No one will notice what you are up to. Keep up the good work.

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Go ahead. Launch vitriol at me and call me a troll for staying the obvious. This was NOT the most destructive storm in half a century. Not even close. Not even in the last decade.

That's all I'm saying. But yeah. Call me a troll for not sticking with the cosy consensus.

Mod Note

Quit bickering and move on. Report suspected trolling rather than further inflaming the situation by calling them out on-thread

Thanks

shampoosuicide

maryishere wrote: »

Nettle Soup wrote: »

Galway/Mayo struggled to get winds of 100km+
Those are not Red Warning stats.

My fear is that people will not take the Red status seriously in future.

Hooks Golf Handicap wrote: »

I'm afraid that the legacy of this storm is that a future red warning is not taken as serious or just ignored.

Met E had it bang on Friday evening, I want to know who made the incorrect decision to extend that warning countrywide, my fear is that politicans interfered at the 11th hour through a fear bandwagon lobby.

So we end up with a fiasco of schools closed for 2 days & business losing a days production because there were large gusts.

The politicians made a bid deal out of everything. Galway/Mayo/Sligo/ Leitrim struggled to get winds of 100km+, and the tv reporters were struggling to find footage of any wind damage in those areas. Locals there remember far worse storms. Shutting the whole country down and closing schools for 2 days is madness. One day shutdown was enough.

Every bank holiday weekend in France 50 to 60 people lose their lives on the roads.

france is 50 to 60 times the size of ireland

WoolyJumper

Anyone saying this was a damp squib obviously wasn't in an area where it felt its greatest impact. I am in Cork and while it certainly wasn't catastrophic it was some of the worst winds I have ever witnessed and it was dangerous. Trees are down everywhere. I'm without electricity (like many others) which means no cooker, no heating, no hot water, no internet....and we are potentially facing days of this. Just because you may have not been largely affected by this doesn't mean others weren't.

I like a good storm as the next person but to be honest I wouldn't wish for this again. There is already talk of another potential storm and I am dreading it. The electricity might just be back, only for it to go again

Cantona's Collars

RTE didn't really pay attention to the forecasting,even the unpaid enthusiasts here knew the worst weather was going to be along the South coast yet they in media land have this fixation that a storm equals the west of Ireland. Down here in the SE we don't often see the big storms but yesterday we had 12 hours of high winds and huge gusts.Every few minutes on social media reports came in of premises having roofs ripped off and every 2nd road blocked with fallen trees.
One school won't be open in Wexford for a while yet as they go find where the roof landed.

_Dara_

barry181091 wrote: »

Can fallen trees be replanted? Some of these trees were old, magnificent oaks. Unfortunate if they would have to be taken away!

After the 1987 UK storm, there were big efforts to replant a lot of the fallen trees. So yes! Whether they actually will be, probably not.

beveragelady

I've been following this thread since it started, and I'm grateful for the advance warning it gave me. My little house took a terrible battering but emerged relatively unscathed, partly because I was able to put in some time preparing. Still, it was properly frightening for an hour or two yesterday.

I'm amazed now to read so many comments from people who seem to genuinely not understand how warnings work.

It might help to think of it like this:

"There's bad weather coming. It looks like it's going to be dangerous. We have no way of knowing exactly how dangerous or exactly where it will hit. EVERYBODY prepare for it. EVERYBODY stay inside. EVERYBODY behave as though you're going to get the worst of it so that if you do get the worst of it you'll be OK."

You wear your seatbelt every time you sit into your car. What percentage of car journeys end in impacts that call upon the seatbelt to save you? Yet you still wear it as a precaution because you're not a complete idiot. We are careful in case the worst happens. We are then grateful if the worst didn't happen to us.

FrancieBrady

shampoosuicide wrote: »

france is 50 to 60 times the size of

One wonders would Mary's reaction to 50 or 60 deaths be to shrug and point to a much bigger loss of life as a justification for not doing anything to take preventative measures. :rolleyes:

Cantona's Collars

Over here they are free firewood for council workers.

Beechwoodspark

shampoosuicide wrote: »

france is 50 to 60 times the size of ireland

There was a lot of uncertainty on Sunday evening and even Monday AM as to what parts of Ireland would receive the worst of the storm.

I honestly think that if there had been public confusion about where is a red alert and where is an orange, there would have been more casualties.

Met Eireann and the govt were right to issue a nationwide alert in the circumstances.

Rebelbrowser

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

RTE didn't really pay attention to the forecasting,even the unpaid enthusiasts here knew the worst weather was going to be along the South coast yet they in media land have this fixation that a storm equals the west of Ireland. Down here in the SE we don't often see the big storms but yesterday we had 12 hours of high winds and huge gusts.Every few minutes on social media reports came in of premises having roofs ripped off and every 2nd road blocked with fallen trees.
One school won't be open in Wexford for a while yet as they go find where the roof landed.

I do has some sympathy with this. RTE seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time reporting from Galway and Mayo (separately) yesterday when the worst winds were always most likely to be in Cork direction (where bizarrely they had no reporter at all - Paschal Sheehy was dispatched to west Kerry).

John.Icy

Why are some people so defensive about a storm for god sakes! Let people have opinions. Weather is subjective and perceptive. It's like 5 year olds in here, my storm is bigger than yours!

The storm was practically yellow warning criteria for places yesterday, including Dublin. Orange for others. Red for places on the south. I don't disagree with issuing a nationwide red warning, it keeps us safe and a storms path is volatile. Sunday evening the NHC track had Ophelia going straight through the middle of the country IIRC? Yes the path wasn't going to change much about wind experienced due to the nature of the wind field but nevertheless. It's a better be safe than sorry approach. A lot more people were out and about during Darwin, with the lack of shutdown, and that storm had a higher peak intensity for a majority. Just shows the freak nature of storm deaths, so many more people out and about during Darwin and I read yesterday there wasn't a single death! Keeping people inside helps prevent the chance of deaths occuring, but those on here yesterday who believed there would have been hundreds of deaths if more people were out and about? Maybe there could have been, but historically since the night of the big wind, no, very unlikely. RIP to the three who lost lives, one is too many.

The arguing on here will pass, as it's mostly non-regulars I see. I'll leave it on this, for some Southern areas, it was the worst since Debbie. For many other areas, it just wasn't. Move on, stop arguing with everyone who believes against your views.

Donegal Storm

Yesterday, for all the hype, was just a typical Atlantic windstorm by the time it actually made landfall here. A true hurricane would have been much slower moving and dumped much more rain, most stations would probably have been close to breaking their all time rain record and we'd have nationwide flooding. Also storm surges would have been a far bigger issue than they were.

iamwhoiam

beveragelady wrote: »

I've been following this thread since it started, and I'm grateful for the advance warning it gave me. My little house took a terrible battering but emerged relatively unscathed, partly because I was able to put in some time preparing. Still, it was properly frightening for an hour or two yesterday.

I'm amazed now to read so many comments from people who seem to genuinely not understand how warnings work.

It might help to think of it like this:

"There's bad weather coming. It looks like it's going to be dangerous. We have no way of knowing exactly how dangerous or exactly where it will hit. EVERYBODY prepare for it. EVERYBODY stay inside. EVERYBODY behave as though you're going to get the worst of it so that if you do get the worst of it you'll be OK."

You wear your seatbelt every time you sit into your car. What percentage of car journeys end in impacts that call upon the seatbelt to save you? Yet you still wear it as a precaution because you're not a complete idiot. We are careful in case the worst happens. We are then grateful if the worst didn't happen to us.

Well said . Because of the warning we were extra careful and tied down bins and took in flower pots etc etc / Our neighbours were extra careful too except for one whos green bin lifted off the ground and smashed into his car . We pulled cars forward away from falling slates etc and so the damage was minimal here thankfully

_Dara_

John.Icy wrote: »

Keeping people inside helps prevent the chance of deaths occuring, but those on here yesterday who believed there would have been hundreds of deaths if more people were out and about? Maybe there could have been, but historically since the night of the big wind, no, very unlikely.

I doubt many people thought that there would be hundreds of deaths with lesser warnings. But there could easily have been more than ten.

FrancieBrady

This post in the other thread should be the end of the conversation. Nobody knew exactly what would unfold because it was a unique situation.

There was a sting jet which hit just off the south coast. If that hit over land, we would have seen major hurricane strength winds over populated areas

Sting jets are a 'now cast' situation, it's not currently possible to predict if or where they will form with any precision using existing technology

The National red alert was absolutely the right call given the danger associated with this storm. A lot of people were severely impacted up to and including the tragic loss of life, and places that were not severely affected could easily have been if the track had shifted by even a small amount, well within the margin of error of the 24 hour outlook from Friday into Saturday.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=104997047&postcount=20

fraxinus1

I have been out and about around South Donegal and cannot find any evidence apart from leaves that justified putting the north west under a RED warning. Neighbours are baffled.

I understand people died and that's terrible and power lost but the fact remains, only four counties reached the threshold that triggers a RED alert. My worry is that next time a red alert is called people in the bulk of the country will not take it seriously.

I am not trolling. I am not downplaying matters but this event was a south coast event. 100kmph gusts in the northwest happens several times a year. I think Met E had it spot on with their forecast on Friday when they had the SW under a RED. They should have left it at that. The rest of the country was under an orange alert which in the NW was a stretch too but it would have been enough to make people take heed. Majority of people are not stupid, if there is a severe storm blowing most parents would not put children out to school.

As for the media, let's all be honest it was way over the top. TV crews struggled to find damage outside the southern counties. The winds in Sligo town barely touched gale force and Eileen Magnier was clearly feeling silly reporting live from there.

Nettle Soup

shampoosuicide wrote: »

france is 50 to 60 times the size of ireland

France is 9 times bigger than Ireland.

bucketybuck

FrancieBrady wrote: »

One wonders would Mary's reaction to 50 or 60 deaths be to shrug and point to a much bigger loss of life as a justification for not doing anything to take preventative measures. :rolleyes:

The gas thing is the amount of people in this thread on Sunday criticising the fact that there hadn't yet been a full country red alert.

And now people criticise that there was a full country red alert. They can't win.

Nettle Soup

fraxinus1 wrote: »

I have been out and about around South Donegal and cannot find any evidence apart from leaves that justified putting the north west under a RED warning. Neighbours are baffled.

I understand people died and that's terrible and power lost but the fact remains, only four counties reached the threshold that triggers a RED alert. My worry is that next time a red alert is called people in the bulk of the country will not take it seriously.

That's exactly the sentiment in Galway. People are baffled. Especially the fact that the schools are closed.

shampoosuicide

Nettle Soup wrote: »

fraxinus1 wrote: »

I have been out and about around South Donegal and cannot find any evidence apart from leaves that justified putting the north west under a RED warning. Neighbours are baffled.

I understand people died and that's terrible and power lost but the fact remains, only four counties reached the threshold that triggers a RED alert. My worry is that next time a red alert is called people in the bulk of the country will not take it seriously.

That's exactly the sentiment in Galway. People are baffled. Especially the fact that the schools are closed.

wouldn't pass much heed of whining parents, personally

GritBiscuit

Drumpot wrote: »

Ok captain hindsight, tell us your way of managing this.

There is a storm heading towards Ireland in a manner that has never happened before so we have no exact reference. Your tools to calculate where it will hit are suggesting it will be mostly south and south west of country but you have been surprised at the way the storm has acted so can’t be sure how strong it will be when it hits and what areas it might hit.

The nature of the storm is difficult to predict, the storm is the size of the country and it can shift a few miles at any stage which will have massive impacts on areas not warned. Lastly, you need to notify people at least 12-24 hours in advance so not to cause panic (people rushing to shops) and for people to prepare (clear gardens ).

You are confident that the storm could kill people and that not preparing the right areas will lead to deaths.

You have The floor, I am fascinated to hear your plan of action ....

Great post - that's it in a nutshell!

Dizzyblonde

I'd like to say thank you to the regular posters and mods for all the hard work yesterday, keeping us updated on Ophelia. It's much appreciated. I'm a regular lurker in this forum and it was great being able to log in anytime I wanted to know what was happening.
You must all be exhausted.

listermint

fraxinus1 wrote: »

I have been out and about around South Donegal and cannot find any evidence apart from leaves that justified putting the north west under a RED warning. Neighbours are baffled.

I understand people died and that's terrible and power lost but the fact remains, only four counties reached the threshold that triggers a RED alert. My worry is that next time a red alert is called people in the bulk of the country will not take it seriously.

I am not trolling. I am not downplaying matters but this event was a south coast event. 100kmph gusts in the northwest happens several times a year. I think Met E had it spot on with their forecast on Friday when they had the SW under a RED. They should have left it at that. The rest of the country was under an orange alert which in the NW was a stretch too but it would have been enough to make people take heed. Majority of people are not stupid, if there is a severe storm blowing most parents would not put children out to school.

As for the media, let's all be honest it was way over the top. TV crews struggled to find damage outside the southern counties. The winds in Sligo town barely touched gale force and Eileen Magnier was clearly feeling silly reporting live from there.

Dundalk was not meant to get that level of Gusts,


A 33 year old father of 2 is dead.


What should we do in these situations in your humble opinion ?

20 minute warning ? 1 Hour warning ? No warning 'knock yourselfs out' ?


You just cant win with people, always have to moan and give out regardless of the subject matter.

shampoosuicide

Nettle Soup wrote: »

shampoosuicide wrote: »

france is 50 to 60 times the size of ireland

France is 9 times bigger than Ireland.

I wasn't being strictly serious but population-wise (which would obviously be more relevant to his daft point) it's 16 times bigger.