Galway’s great escape in super- storm
Galway City escaped the worst of the damage wreaked by Atlantic super-storm Darwin on Wednesday despite recording the strongest winds in the country over a ten minute period.
During the rare red alert issued by Met Éireann, winds at the weather station on Mace Head in Carna recorded a gust of 84 knots – which is 156km/h. The ten minute mean speed of the wind between 1pm and 2pm was measured at 65 knots or 120km/ph.
“That’s hurricane force – anything 64 and above is considered a hurricane and Mace Head had the strongest in the country. The mean speed is what loosens everything up and the gusts are what do the real damage,” explained forecaster Hugh Daly of Met Éireann.
“Mace Head is a relatively new station so it’s not possible to talk about records but certainly at Shannon Airport the wind speed set a new record. The previous record was recorded during Hurricane Debbie in 1961 so you’re talking about a significant event certainly.”
Remarkably, there was very little disruption caused by the storm.
Westside Library was closed after four large panes of glass at the front of the building smashed to the ground. The caretaker was lucky to escape any injury after he was out cleaning up the first pane of glass when the others crashed.
Librarian Cora Gunter said the library would remain closed until engineers assessed the safety of the building.
Just after 2pm a Leylandii tree on the Monivea Road fell onto the road.
Galway City Council crews were out on duty across the city responding to calls about fallen tiles in three locations but there was little serious damage, a spokesman said.
Spot flooding occurred on roads around the city and Salthill but no road had to be closed.
“We had minimal disruption with the storm when very heavy rain and high winds hit in the middle of the afternoon. We issued a warning urging people not to walk along the prom as it was putting themselves and emergency crews in danger. Really we got off very lightly compared to other places like Kilkenny and down South.”
By lunchtime yesterday 1,700 households across the county were still without power, with 900 homes in the Curra area of Tynagh and a further 700 without supply in the Gort and Kiltartan areas.
The Limerick to Athenry rail line was closed due to debris with bus transfers are in place.
The water resevoir in Portumna had to be shut down following a power cut in the area causing water outages or shortages, while Kinvara suffered bad flooding.
For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.