Gusts of up to 80mph was due to batter the UK and Ireland early Monday as Hurricane Ophelia sweeps in threatening to cause travel chaos.
Ireland dispatched its armed forces to bolster flood defences on Sunday and warned people against non-essential travel as the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia threatened the country with its worst storm in 50 years.
Ophelia, the sixth major hurricane of the Atlantic season, is due to make landfall on the south west coast of Ireland at around 0500 GMT on Monday, the Irish weather service said, describing the storm as “unprecedented.”
Hurricane force winds are likely off Ireland’s south coast but they are expected to ease before they reach the coastline, said the weather service, which has declared a Status Red weather alert.
The weather service has warned some gusts may exceed 130 kilometres per hour (80 miles per hour).
The government has also warned of localised coastal flooding and likely disruption to transport and electricity services.
“You should not be out in this storm … this is an extreme weather event,” the chairman of Ireland’s National Emergency Coordination Group Sean Hogan said at a briefing.
Asked if it was likely to be the worst storm in half a century, he said the “comparable weather event” was Hurricane Debbie, which killed 12 in Ireland in 1961. Ophelia has the potential to be a life-threatening event in Ireland, he said.
The storm is likely to pass close to a west of Ireland golf course owned by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has been planning a wall to protect its greens from coastal erosion.
The storm has the potential to reshape stretches of the Irish coast, John Sweeney, a climatologist at Maynooth University,” said.
“It is going to be perhaps an event comparable to Debbie in 1961 which has effectively marked many of the coastlines of the west coast of Ireland to the present day,” Sweeney told state broadcaster RTE.
Members of the armed forces have been sent to Tralee on the south west coast to build coastal defences with sandbags.
Britain’s meteorological service said in a statement that the weather system may effect road, rail, air and ferry services.
British media are comparing the storm to the Great Storm of 1987, which subjected parts of the United Kingdom to hurricane strength winds 30 years ago to the day.
The UK Met Office has issued severe weather alerts, warning of potential power cuts, flying debris and disruption to transport and mobile phone signal.
The tropical storm has been making its way across the Atlantic and Ophelia’s remnants are set to reach home shores on Monday, resulting in “exceptional” weather.
Northern Ireland is covered with an amber warning – meaning there is a “potential risk to life and property”, issued when forecasters believe people need to be prepared to change their plans and “protect you, your family and community from the impacts of the severe weather based on the forecast”.
Very windy weather is expected across the entire region, while a yellow warning is in place for much of Wales, Scotland, north east England, north west England, south west England and the West Midlands.
Gusts of 55-65mph are likely across Northern Ireland with 70-80mph gusts in the far south-east.
A smaller area of very gusty winds is then likely to run across Northern Ireland from the west with 65-75mph gusts possible for a short period of time in any one location.
Longer journey times and cancellations are likely, as road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected as well as some bridge closures.
Heavy rain is also possible in parts of Northern Ireland and western Scotland.
Met Eireann have issued a “status red” weather alert for Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cork and Kerry, warning of severe winds and stormy conditions.
Met Office forecaster Luke Miall said: “We do get these sorts of strengths of winds most winters. We generally get a few storms that will see these sorts of winds, but this is quite a substantial system because of where it’s coming from as well.
“And to get that sort of south-easterly strength across the south east of Northern Ireland – you don’t generally get that.
“You tend to get strong south-westerly winds because the systems come up across the northern half of the UK.
“So yeah I’d say it’s pretty exceptional.”
Miall said Ophelia will have gone through a transition on its way across the Atlantic and will no longer be a hurricane, but will still bring “hurricane-force” winds.
