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

Samaris

Mod note

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Don’t say you weren’t warned!!

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'Scuse me if I'm breaking any rules of Weather here with another thread, but didn't want to derail the main thread with too much chatter.

Guessing a lot of people (particularly us mostly-lurkers) might be in the same boat as me - not really sure what this all means on the ground in terms of preparation - and even if it's not too awful, I for one would prefer to be over-prepared rather than under-prepared! (At the moment, I don't feel that prepared at all!)

I'm living in a pretty exposed place for this particular set of indicators (on a narrow, south-west jutting peninsula off the Galway coast) and thus somewhat nervous about it. We're moving the bedroom to the sitting room as I've always been a bit dubious about the tall trees on that side of the house, but apart from that, sheltering the car (somehow) and ensuring there's as little potential debris as possible, I'm a bit at a loss. Water, candles might be an idea to get in.

Any more experienced people have ideas? Or what are others in the firing line doing?

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stevenup7002

A slate blew through my windscreen and missed my head by an inch. I thought Met Eireann said I was going to die?? Why didn't the slate decapitate me if so? Complete overhyped non-event here.

FrancieBrady

maryishere wrote: »

windguru.cz much more accurate than met eireann.

I would say in may parts of the country which did not suffer any damage, many people will not heed a "red" warning if it ever comes again. Thats the real danger.

So the curious logic here is - don't call a red warning for an event which was always going to be variable because people might not heed the next one?

Fabulous logic.

FrancieBrady

__..__ wrote: »

It's a form of bullying though isn't.
If an employee feels under pressure from.their company to come in when all else tells them not to.

Absolutely. Life before profit everytime.

Nettle Soup

elperello wrote: »

I know of a bridge club that went ahead with their regular Monday night session last night.
Think about it, a bunch of mostly elderly people venturing out by car and on foot in the middle of a red alert to play cards!

Where was that? North South East or West?

You have NO IDEA how much old people like their cards!

I was at a local committee meeting at 9pm last night. They had cancelled the meeting but re-instated when it was clear that Galway has escaped the dangerous winds. It was the best turnout yet.

Alf Veedersane

maryishere wrote: »

windguru.cz much more accurate than met eireann.

I would say in may parts of the country which did not suffer any damage, many people will not heed a "red" warning if it ever comes again. Thats the real danger.

I would think that most people would know that the course of the storm changed and thankfully those areas didn't get hit as badly as they might have.

If someone decides that a red warning has been devalued because the impact wasn't all that bad in the end, then theyre a moron.

pjohnson

maryishere wrote: »

windguru.cz much more accurate than met eireann.

I would say in may parts of the country which did not suffer any damage, many people will not heed a "red" warning if it ever comes again. Thats the real danger.

Declare the red warning today after the event be better?

cnocbui

maryishere wrote: »

they did not though.
windguru forecasts for parts of the county showed gusts of only 90 kph, which proved correct.

So what. Most other parts of the country had gusts that brought down trees and power poles and took the roofs off buildings. I myself lost two ridge slates and my phone line was ripped from it's pole, none of these things has happened her in the last 15 years. This was stronger than Darwin where I am.

The point about forecasts is that they are just a guess. The path of the storm could just as easily have gone left or right of it's projected path. Since there is no such thing as certainty with these things, the authorities have to apply the worst case warning over a wide area in case the path of the storm changes.

lottpaul

maryishere wrote: »

windguru.cz much more accurate than met eireann.

I would say in may parts of the country which did not suffer any damage, many people will not heed a "red" warning if it ever comes again. Thats the real danger.

Weather forecasting is not an exact science - it never has been but in fairness it is much more accurate than even 10 years ago. It wasn't just Met Eireann that was predicting damage but many other reputable services also.

I'd really like to know some of the "many" parts of the country which suffered "no damage". If there are some, I'm sure they consider themselves fortunate not to have endured the deaths, injuries and damage to properties which other areas did and are thanking their lucky stars that the storm veered a fraction of a degree away from their neck of the woods.
Great credit to all concerned in taking decisions which definitely saved lives and prevented serious injury. It's no coincidence that the 3 unfortunates who died were travelling - no doubt for reasons they considered to be very valid, but if there had been no red warnings, if schools had been open, if many businesses hadn't closed etc then I'm certain we would be mourning the loss of several more people today. Can you imagine what the consequences would have been if the roof of the school in Douglas had blown off while the school was open??
I drove from west Kerry to Cork this morning and in parts it looks like a war zone with debris scattered everywhere, wires flapping, roofs, walls and fences damaged etc -- in other places it's difficult to see any effects, but who was to know that at this time on Sunday?
The call for a red status for the whole country was perfectly valid and fully justified in hindsight. If people in the future feel they know better and choose to ignore it on hearsay and alternative opinions, so be it, but I won't be one of them.

Meteorite58

MOD NOTE: Warning stevenup7002 ,adhere to forum charter.

See No5 re trolling and goading posts.

__..__

Where i was there was strong wind but nothing that would be enough to worth about all day. 100 meters down the road two huge trees blown over that have stood much worse storms.
The gusts can be entirely different power 100meters away from each other.

Rubberchikken

Managers and companies that dithered on making a decision on whether employees worked yesterday or not with a nationwide red alert out really showed their true working colours.
In the scheme of things, most businesses can survive one day.

iLikeWaffles

Have to agree. They don't usually get the weather right but they were spot on the money with this one. The way they issued the warnings was not ott at all. There probably could have been more fatalities if not for Met Eireann and everyone involved.
Granted some parts of the country might not have been getting bad gusts but where I was certainly got winds I've never felt or heard in my lifetime.

smeal

Its absolutely tragic that we lost 3 lives yesterday. For some people however that doesn't seem to be enough to categorise Ophelia as a severe storm. I don't know what people need to see.. a roof falling in on a school full of kids? or a bridge collapsing at rush hour from the pressure of winds and traffic?

I 100% believe that by urging people to stay in doors many lives were saved and many injuries were spared. There are enough accidents and crazy drivers on our roads as it is without the added pressure of trying to swerve falling branches, driving in heavy rain or battling with cross winds. As I posted yesterday our area got off fairly lightly with just a few trees down on the main road and a few back roads blocked with debris. I had to overtake some relatively big branches that had collapsed this morning. It didn't look like much in the grand scheme of things but had they fallen while driving it would have caused a car serious damage or would have caused it to swerve off course, potentially into another vehicle.

We are fortunate to live in the climate we do where a few relatively simple safe-guards such as closing schools & non essential organisations and urging people to stay indoors can prevent widespread fatalities during a storm. I think we should definitely take any future red warnings just as serious as we did yesterday.

__..__

Even an orange alert I'm future and I'm stayimg home. Company be damned.

goat2

this storm was far less severe than storm of 2014, and also Desmond, yet the eye of this storm went right over our house, I got a picture of it, as it was dead calm at the time, must have been that it was out right and left of that eye that had the dangerous winds, winds did pick up after the eye crossed over us, but nothing like the 2014 winds, this left us with no damage, but then again all the damage that was done in 2014 would have cleared that up

Esel

goat2 wrote: »

this storm was far less severe than storm of 2014, and also Desmond, yet the eye of this storm went right over our house, I got a picture of it, as it was dead calm at the time, must have been that it was out right and left of that eye that had the dangerous winds, winds did pick up after the eye crossed over us, but nothing like the 2014 winds, this left us with no damage, but then again all the damage that was done in 2014 would have cleared that up

Less severe in the eye...

goat2

smeal wrote: »

Its absolutely tragic that we lost 3 lives yesterday. For some people however that doesn't seem to be enough to categorise Ophelia as a severe storm. I don't know what people need to see.. a roof falling in on a school full of kids? or a bridge collapsing at rush hour from the pressure of winds and traffic?

I 100% believe that by urging people to stay in doors many lives were saved and many injuries were spared. There are enough accidents and crazy drivers on our roads as it is without the added pressure of trying to swerve falling branches, driving in heavy rain or battling with cross winds. As I posted yesterday our area got off fairly lightly with just a few trees down on the main road and a few back roads blocked with debris. I had to overtake some relatively big branches that had collapsed this morning. It didn't look like much in the grand scheme of things but had they fallen while driving it would have caused a car serious damage or would have caused it to swerve off course, potentially into another vehicle.

We are fortunate to live in the climate we do where a few relatively simple safe-guards such as closing schools & non essential organisations and urging people to stay indoors can prevent widespread fatalities during a storm. I think we should definitely take any future red warnings just as serious as we did yesterday.

Yes we would have had far more terrible things happen, if we had not been told to stay indoors and clean up around outside our properties,more so in places where storms are not usually severe enough to down trees and roofs

goat2

Esel wrote: »

Less severe in the eye...

thank you for this, I was wondering if this was the reason we escaped with only a strong breeze by comparison to rest of the country

SusieBlue

Won't be getting paid for not going to work yesterday and not allowed take the day as annual leave.
Absolutely fuming.

iamwhoiam

WhiteRoses wrote: »

Won't be getting paid for not going to work yesterday and not allowed take the day as annual leave.
Absolutely fuming.

Can you try for a force majure day ? It was mentioned by Leo Varadkar yesterday as a possibility

HeidiHeidi

Mrself wrote: »

My part of Dublin certainly was a non event. Probably a bit more damage in coastal areas of Dublin. Just giving my view from the view I had ie my window!

Delighted for ya.

What about the other 99.99% of the population?

pad199207

People saying it was a non event .......

I can honestly say yesterday they were the strongest gusts I have ever seen in my life. Ferocious sustained gusts with debris flying through the air. Something you dont see inland usually.

Just back from Wexford to check on Mobile Home. A sad sight. Place is destroyed but lucky no major damage to the mobile itself. Trees and power lines down everywhere.

Larbre34

WhiteRoses wrote: »

Won't be getting paid for not going to work yesterday and not allowed take the day as annual leave.
Absolutely fuming.

Thats just spiteful. What industry are we talking about? Even an option to work back the hours?

Tazio

pad199207 wrote:

I can honestly say yesterday they were the strongest gusts I have ever seen in my life. Ferocious sustained gusts with debris flying through the air. Something you dont see inland usually.

Agreed I was very scared for family safety yesterday at its peak. We heard noises yesterday we never what to hear again. My 8 year old son said Ophelia sounds very angry outside the back door. Which was hissing and pouring water in under the door. South windows upstairs were being pushed/banged by pressure and sudden gusts. The sound was the most "impressive" thing.

Lots of trees, poles etc down. We also had damage to our roof we sit at a height facing SSW.

For me this was an event! Our home was at the limits imo.

Larbre34

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Can you try for a force majure day ? It was mentioned by Leo Varadkar yesterday as a possibility

Even if the employer recognises it as a thing, its probably just in the context of family emergencies. And if they do recognise it, they could probably contend that the employee could have made it work if they really tried (regardless of any personal risk to them on their journey)

All very well for Leo to suggest it, he wont have to argue it with every scrooge going.

waxmelts2000

Power back around 11am this morning still no water in the grand scheme of things this is pretty good no other damage to property but what a scary day, Youghal. Our lovely boardwalk out the beach survived thankfully (having been destroyed a few years ago in another storm)

jcd5971

Larbre34 wrote:

Thats just spiteful. What industry are we talking about? Even an option to work back the hours?

Cantona's Collars wrote:

Pardon my french but your employer is a cnut.

I think taking the day off is perfectly understandable.

But expecting to get paid to stay home is a bit much,especially if the business was open.

If i was the owner I'd take your wage for day and split it between the staff who did come in as a bonus.

Wouldn't hold it against you as a negative either though its a tough choice to make. I just would not pay you for it.

JaMarcusHustle

jcd5971 wrote: »

But expecting to get paid to stay home is a bit much,especially if the business was open.

If i was the owner I'd take your wage for day and split it between the staff who did come in as a bonus.

That's a bizarre stance.

On one hand, you're saying that it was a normal work day so staying home means you don't get paid.

On the other hand, you're saying if you did come in, you should get a bonus. What happened to it being a normal work day and being open for business?

SusieBlue

jcd5971 wrote: »

I think taking the day off is perfectly understandable.

But expecting to get paid to stay home is a bit much,especially if the business was open.

If i was the owner I'd take your wage for day and split it between the staff who did come in as a bonus.

Wouldn't hold it against you as a negative either though its a tough choice to make. I just would not pay you for it.

Would you go away. A bonus for a greedy company and rewarding idiotic colleagues who didn't heed government advice during a national emergency and stay home? I live in Cork which got the brunt of the storm and amongst the worst damage in the country.

Fwiw, I wanted to use a days holidays, but I'm not allowed.

CatFromHue

Cork was always in the red zone, as far as I know, so what your boss is doing is very very ****ty