Thousands without power after Storm Ellen hits Ireland
More than 10,000 homes were left without power across Munster as Storm Ellen arrived with vast swathes of Cork badly affected before winds eased after midnight.
In Cork, power outages were reported across the city and county, including in Douglas, Little Island and Cobh with flooding in Skibbereen.
Skibbereen now. #StormEllen #WestCork pic.twitter.com/ZyWoZ81lFr
— Holly Cairns TD (@HollyCairnsTD) August 19, 2020
There have been multiple trees felled by the storm across the county.
Met Éireann had warned that Storm Ellen would produce severe impacts.
A status red wind warning for Cork was in place until 11.59pm last night.
A status orange wind warning was in place for Munster, Galway and Mayo until 6am on Thursday.
Met Éireann has warned that the storm “will track over Ireland this evening and tonight bringing severe and damaging winds.
“Heavy rainfall and storm surge will result in some flooding.”
A status yellow wind warning for the rest of the country is in place until 8am tomorrow.
Maersk Niteroi departing #CorkHarbour just now. Wind and waves increasing, as our pilot and launch crew ensures her safe departure. #StormEllen increasing - stay safe everyone #keepingtheshowontheroad Thanks @captainbob76 for the footage! pic.twitter.com/hufbpy9h0x
— Port of Cork (@PortofCork) August 19, 2020
Earlier today, Gerry Murphy from Met Éireann said that Cork will experience extreme winds on Wednesday night.
"It's going to get very bad, potentially in Cork in the sense that this depression is moving up and it's spinning quite rapidly. It's going to generate very strong winds," he told C103's Cork Today Show.
"The most up-to-date information is that Cork is going to get the biggest hit from it. The winds will be extremely strong, with damaging gusts well over 120km/hr in places. There will be rain as well.
"It's potentially quite a very stormy night, particularly given the fact we're still meteorologically in the summer. The trees are in bloom which means leaves will be more susceptible to falling at this time of year than they would in winter.
“It all depends on the exact track of the storm but currently, the track is such that Cork will get the heaviest hit from that storm.”
EUMETSAT Satellite animation showing the track of #StormEllen. The developing low pressure system that will cross Ireland tonight can be identified as the bend in the cloud located to the northwest of Spain. All current warnings see https://t.co/juduxcKda8 pic.twitter.com/FkVxNR9TNQ
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) August 19, 2020
Met Éireann's Head of Forecasting, Evelyn Cusack, said today that very poor conditions are on the way and tourists in exposed locations will be at risk for these unseasonable stormy and wet conditions.
"Storm Ellen is going to hit Kerry, the south-west of Ireland later this evening and then zip up the west or perhaps in over Ireland tonight," she said.
“The worst of the winds will actually be during the night,” she said.
"There are likely to be quite damaging winds so we are obviously worried about the huge amounts of tourists especially in the south and in the west. Very dangerous conditions indeed."
Ms Cusack added that while the worst of the winds should have passed over the country on Wednesday night, there would still be gales and high seas on Thursday and Friday.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cork County Council urged people camping or in caravans “to seek alternative accommodation indoors tonight”.
The council added that it is prepared “with response crews on standby for the approaching Storm Ellen, in advance of unseasonably wet and stormy weather”.
They warned: “Due to the combination of storm surge, spring tides and onshore winds, there is a potential risk of coastal flooding, particularly in the West Cork area.
Some handy numbers for later #StormEllen #Cork
— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) August 19, 2020
🌳Report fallen trees, road damage in the county to (021) 4800048
⚡️Power outage: ESB Networks 1850 372999
🚰Water outage: Irish Water 1850 278278
“There is a risk also of some inland and river flooding with some potentially heavy, thundery downpours.”
Siobhan Sullivan, of Eagle Point Camping at Ballylickey, near Bantry, said they had gone from a full campsite earlier this week, including up to 50 people in tents across the site, to a virtually empty campsite by mid-afternoon.
“We’ve been reading and watching the news, and telling people about the weather warnings, especially those in tents, and we’ve been advising those people basically to go home,” Ms Sullivan told the Irish Examiner.
“And people are being sensible. We had a few cancellations earlier this week, and a few people left early but most people were gone by yesterday afternoon.
“We are in a sheltered area, and at the moment, the conditions are lovely, the sea is flat calm but I suppose that’s the calm before the storm. We just don’t know what to expect.”