Mayo escapes Ophelia’s wrath

STORM WATERS Roonagh Pier, near Louisburgh, during Ophelia. The hurricane hit the Mayo coast with great force but thankfully failed to cause much structural damage across the county.  Pic: Paul Mealey

Power outages and localised flooding, but no loss of life or serious damage

Edwin McGreal

Mayo had a lucky escape yesterday (Monday) evening, avoiding the worst of Hurricane Ophelia, which hit Ireland over the course of the day.
Weather forecasts predicted that the worst of the hurricane would travel through the county between 4pm and 6pm but, by that stage, the strength of the winds that hit the south of Ireland had reduced, and the county breathed a sigh of relief.
There were three fatalities throughout the country as a result of Ophelia, as well as significant structural damage in southern counties.
“We were very lucky in Mayo, we didn’t get the brunt of it,” Cllr Richard Finn, Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council told The Mayo News yesterday evening.
“There was no loss of life [in the county], not even injuries … I would express my sympathies to the families of the three people who unfortunately lost their lives in Waterford, Tipperary and Louth,” said Cllr Finn.

Power cuts
There were a number of power outages in the county, with significant power cuts in Ballyhaunis, Knock and the Cross/Cong/The Neale area. Fallen trees were also reported in southern and eastern parts of the county.
“We were expecting much worse … in fact, some of the weather conditions were quite mild compared to what we were fearing. But when you saw what happened in the south of the county, we had to be in a state of high alert,” said Cllr Finn.
County council area offices were open all day yesterday where council management and staff were liaising with the emergency services to mobilise if and when needed.
“I’d like to express huge gratitude to the emergency services, to council management and staff who, to a man and woman, were on hand working today, on high alert should anything serious happy. Thankfully that turned out not to be the case,” he said.
“I’d like to thank people who took heed of the warnings and exercised due care and to thank the employers who let their staff have the day off in the interests of health and safety,” added Cllr Finn.
 
Closures
All schools in the county were closed yesterday as part of a directive from the Department of Education. Creches and third-level institutions were also closed yesterday.
While national and secondary schools remain closed today (Tuesday), GMIT Castlebar will reopen at 11am, and NUI Galway will also reopen. Classes at the Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board will not resume until tomorrow (Wednesday).
A large number of businesses closed yesterday, and factories such as Allergan in Westport also shut for the day.
Train, bus and air services in Mayo were all cancelled yesterday. Yesterday’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Council was also postponed.
The Local Crisis Management team at Mayo County Council met on an hourly basis over the course of the day to manage the flood alert they had in place.
Meanwhile, in the interest of the safety of customers and staff alike, Sweeney’s SuperValu Achill made the decision to close their doors for business on Monday afternoon, following an incident where a sign outside of the shop fell and seriously damaged a customer’s vehicle.
The incident occurred shortly after eleven o’clock on the premises of the supermarket and it is believed that management decided to close the shop for business soon after the incident took place.