Caravan blows off cliff in Galway - Woman dead

xzanti

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/latest-woman-dies-after-caravan-blown-off-cliff-in-galway-870002.html

A woman has died after the caravan she was in was blown off a cliff onto a beach in the west of Ireland during Storm Ali, Gardaí have said.
She was believed to be aged in her fifties.
Rescuers attended at Claddaghduff, near Clifden in Co Galway, on Wednesday morning.

Very sad. Poor woman. May she rest in peace

Fr_Dougal

RIP.

Had a look at the caravan park on Google maps, the caravans are literally parked on the side of the cliff.

biko

RIP, what a terrible way to go

munchkin_utd

biko wrote: »

RIP, what a terrible way to go

true, although to be fair, parking a caravan on a peninsula protruding into the atlantic near the edge of a cliff during a fairly brisk storm, is not a terribly smart thing to do.

Galway bay FM added in their report "It’s believed the woman was in her 50’s and was not from Ireland" - so in her defence, at an eco campsite with not even a toilet provided let alone electricity, she may not have known the storm was coming.

TheValeyard

What terrible and tragic news


RIP

silverharp

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

RIP.

Had a look at the caravan park on Google maps, the caravans are literally parked on the side of the cliff.

how did they not have problems before?

munchkin_utd

silverharp wrote: »

how did they not have problems before?

maybe nobody parked by the cliff in a storm before ?

Pelvis

munchkin_utd wrote: »

true, although to be fair, parking a caravan on a peninsula protruding into the atlantic near the edge of a cliff during a fairly brisk storm, is not a terribly smart thing to do.

Galway bay FM added in their report "It’s believed the woman was in her 50’s and was not from Ireland" - so in her defence, at an eco campsite with not even a toilet provided let alone electricity, she may not have known the storm was coming.

Wonderful, she may not have known of the storm, but lets post anyway blaming her for being an idiot.

Great contribution.

McMurphy

In less than a year we've had nearly every form of extreme weather possible, hurricanes, 8ft snow drifts, drought.

I think we may get used to it, climate change and all that jazz.

Rip to the woman.

Loves_lorries

Pelvis wrote: »

Wonderful, she may not have known of the storm, but lets post anyway blaming her for being an idiot.

Great contribution.

Some people never listen to news or weather reports, likely she had no idea what was coming.

silverharp

munchkin_utd wrote: »

maybe nobody parked by the cliff in a storm before ?

true I guess most storms are later in the year when the tourists are gone

ProudDUB

munchkin_utd wrote: »

true, although to be fair, parking a caravan on a peninsula protruding into the atlantic near the edge of a cliff during a fairly brisk storm, is not a terribly smart thing to do.

Galway bay FM added in their report "It’s believed the woman was in her 50’s and was not from Ireland" - so in her defence, at an eco campsite with not even a toilet provided let alone electricity, she may not have known the storm was coming.

If you are parking your caravan on the edge of a cliff, beside the Atlantic Ocean, sooner or later you'll be affected by a bad storm. It's up to you to keep yourself appraised of weather condtions that may affect you, if you decide to live a lifestyle where you are cut off from the usual forms of news.

Read a newspaper. Talk to your neighbours. Get a battery powered radio in case of emergencies. Walk to the nearest town for weather updates. Get an internet dongle. Let someone charge your phone in their car. God love the poor woman and her family, but c'mon now, it's not rocket science.

Graces7

all that is appropriate here is,, requiescat in pace.

I know the folk of that village well and they will be heartsore

Not a time for comment

Sam Quentin

I can only imagine the horror she must have went through. What a terrible way to go.
R.i.P

Summer wind

I’ve been in a big caravan during a storm. The wind actually picked it up off the cement blocks it was standing on and dropped it back down again with a huge bang. May the poor woman Rest In Peace.

topper75

Johnny Dogs wrote: »

In less than a year we've had nearly every form of extreme weather possible, hurricanes, 8ft snow drifts, drought.

I think we may get used to it, climate change and all that jazz.

Rip to the woman.

I don't know of any period where there was none of the above. Why are we treating weather phenomenon like they are all new and come on the back of some of prolonged stable climate period? There was never such.
Extreme weather has always been around the corner in these latitudes. The Annals of the Four Masters and other such texts are riddled with references to heavy rains and storms. If we are not used to it by now I just don't know.

bodhrandude

In Galway before noon.

Dakota Dan

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

RIP.

Had a look at the caravan park on Google maps, the caravans are literally parked on the side of the cliff.

A caravan park on a cliff edge, that’s crazy.

riffmongous

ProudDUB wrote: »

If you are parking your caravan on the edge of a cliff, beside the Atlantic Ocean, sooner or later you'll be affected by a bad storm. It's up to you to keep yourself appraised of weather condtions that may affect you, if you decide to live a lifestyle where you are cut off from the usual forms of news.

Read a newspaper. Talk to your neighbours. Get a battery powered radio in case of emergencies. Walk to the nearest town for weather updates. Get an internet dongle. Let someone charge your phone in their car. God love the poor woman and her family, but c'mon now, it's not rocket science.

Swiss tourist newly arrived to the area (that day according to the Mail) so none of that is fair

Gimme A Pound

topper75 wrote: »

I don't know of any period where there was none of the above. Why are we treating weather phenomenon like they are all new and come on the back of some of prolonged stable climate period? There was never such.
Extreme weather has always been around the corner in these latitudes. The Annals of the Four Masters and other such texts are riddled with references to heavy rains and storms. If we are not used to it by now I just don't know.

More frequent though.

McMurphy

topper75 wrote: »

I don't know of any period where there was none of the above. Why are we treating weather phenomenon like they are all new and come on the back of some of prolonged stable climate period? There was never such.
Extreme weather has always been around the corner in these latitudes. The Annals of the Four Masters and other such texts are riddled with references to heavy rains and storms. If we are not used to it by now I just don't know.

In Ireland we've had loads of periods that didn't see such extreme weather conditions following each other.


No one said they never happened, just that they're far from the norm.

murpho999

silverharp wrote: »

true I guess most storms are later in the year when the tourists are gone

The lady was on holidays.

I'm just back from holidays myself. Was in Spain last week, and I did not follow any news there at all and there was some extreme weather around.

The woman was just terribly unlucky and there is no need for people trying to blame her for her passing.

Turnipman

murpho999 wrote: »

The lady was on holidays.

I'm just back from holidays myself. Was in Spain last week, and I did not follow any news there at all and there was some extreme weather around.

The woman was just terribly unlucky and there is no need for people trying to blame her for her passing.

Surely whoever runs the campsite should have warned her?

(From the RTE report that she died on Acton's Strand, I assume that it's this place:

https://www.connemara.net/actons-beachside-ecological-caravan-and-camping-park/ )

Sundew

I got caught out walking in a freak thunderstorm in Greece once...I certainly didn’t spend my holidays looking at weather updates! This was pre-smart phone so it is a little easier to check nowadays!
Some of the comments about this tragedy are way outta line!

murpho999

Turnipman wrote: »

Surely whoever runs the campsite should have warned her?

(From the RTE report that she died on Acton's Strand, I assume that it's this place:

https://www.connemara.net/actons-beachside-ecological-caravan-and-camping-park/ )

Do you think every business everywhere is going to react to weather warnings?

Most people don't take them seriously.

Neyite

murpho999 wrote: »

Do you think every business everywhere is going to react to weather warnings?

Most people don't take them seriously.

If you run a cliff-side caravan park and ignore both the Storm Helene and Ali warnings on the news and not inform your guests then you really should not be in business.

murpho999

Neyite wrote: »

If you run a cliff-side caravan park and ignore both the Storm Helene and Ali warnings on the news and not inform your guests then you really should not be in business.

Disagree. People should take personal responsibility.

They are not to know that this could happen.

I wouldn't expect a caravan park to check for weather warnings every day and inform me of it.

Also, how do you know that she wasn't warned and ignored it?

It blew down a ravine so it's a freak thing. Why blame people all the time, it's just an unfortunate accident.

westcork67

I've stayed at this campsite and it seemed to be very well organised - for once, can people just accept an accident for what it is! This country has gone mad always looking for someone to blame - a litigous society driven by the greedy legal profession - accidents happen in storms (and this felt much worse down here in Galway than Ophelia) - this sense of entitlement and "what happens to me is always somebody elses fault" is a cancer in Irish society

winksblinks

I've camped at Actons a few times over the last few years. The owners are fantastic and always made a point to directly inform people of bad weather coming in. In one instance, ahead of a bad summer storm coming in, Chris was going around advising people who had pitched in unsheltered areas to move down.

Not everyone listens and sometimes with all the warnings and precautions in the world, accidents happen. The lady in question may not have been pitched "right at the cliff edge" - strong gusts could have moved the caravan a fair distance.

RIP to the lady involved, horrible, horrible accident.

Turnipman

murpho999 wrote: »

I wouldn't expect a caravan park to check for weather warnings every day and inform me of it.

I would.

I'd regard it as a basic duty of care for people camping or renting caravans on my site.

Addendum: Good to see from the previous post that Chris (the owner) normally does it.

Turnipman

westcork67 wrote: »

I've stayed at this campsite and it seemed to be very well organised - for once, can people just accept an accident for what it is! This country has gone mad always looking for someone to blame - a litigous society driven by the greedy legal profession - accidents happen in storms (and this felt much worse down here in Galway than Ophelia) - this sense of entitlement and "what happens to me is always somebody elses fault" is a cancer in Irish society

It's not about litigation, although it may well end up in an insurance claim - it's about the duty of care by the owners to the people paying to use the campsite.

I too enjoy ranting about the compo culture (which drives me crazy) and blah blah blah, but in this case, there must be a requirement for a campsite owner to do his best to ensure that his patrons are safe - and for me, that would include warning them about an Orange Status storm warning (which, of course, may very well have happened in this case, we just don't know).