Ophelia

Well we survived one of Ireland’s greatest storms, Ex-hurricane Ophelia.  By the time it reached our shores it was a tropical storm.  Ireland had not experienced a storm such as this since 1987 and 30 years to the day!  The storm came up along the west coast, across the tip of Ireland and headed off to Scotland.  There was a lot of forewarning, schools closed, buses stopped running, the Shannon airport closed and all the Dunnes' stores, over the entire island, closed for the day in anticipation of the storm. People were being warned not to get out there and take pictures (they did anyway - iggets).  Even a couple of windsurfers had to be rescued from the high and wild water surge.

We walked over early to the Tesco for our weekly shopping, it was not crowded and all was quiet.  It was a beautiful morning, the sun was out, and there was a slight breeze. I found the clouds very interesting; from what we could see 3 different layers all going in different directions.  Slowly the winds picked up along with the water in the river.

Borrowed from the internet
   

At one point the wind was so strong it was pushing the water back up the weir so you could not see any water flowing back down over it.  We could hear the wind howling down our chimney and little waves crashing on the walls below our patio.  All the water fowl safely disappeared from sight, with the exception of one swan who tucked himself safely into the reeds across the river.  At one point we watched as the life saver ring pulled itself from the post on the floating dock and bounced around in the river until it too finally came to rest along the opposite shore of the Shannon.  I continued to check the weather stations for any updates and/or damages.  Seems the loss of power was the biggest problem for over 380,000 homes and businesses. There were numerous trees down and due to fallen trees 3 folks lost their lives.  The weather and condition updates continued all day, the communication was excellent and thoughtful.

The entire storm event seemed to be personal to this island and its people. This morning this was posted on the internet with a request for prayers for the families.








Schools remained closed today and the weather channel asked that if you don’t have to travel, don’t.  They are not sure how long it will take to clear even the smallest of roads of fallen trees and/or debris.


 This little video was from our patio.