STORM Ophelia made landfall in south-west Scotland yesterday evening after causing three deaths and massive disruption across almost the whole island of Ireland.
High winds and torrential rain started to affect Dumfries and Galloway and the town of Castle Douglas was the first to be affected, with the roof of the local scout hut blown onto a nearby church.
Police Scotland’s virtual operations and support team in Dumfries and Galloway warned the public it was dealing with a high number of calls from the public in relation to the effects of Storm Ophelia.
“Reports of trees down, roofs blown off buildings and other damage would indicate that the storm is now taking effect,” it said in a statement. “Calls are incoming from Castle Douglas in the east through to Mull of Galloway in the west.”
Ferries were cancelled in parts of Scotland and passengers were warned to check conditions before travelling.
Motorists on the M77 faced lengthy tailbacks as a lorry overturned in high winds yesterday morning and blocked the southbound lane for more than an hour.
The storm should ease, according to Met Office weather forecaster Grahame Madge, who said: “It will be gradually easing up into Scotland overnight and into Tuesday morning. It’s weakening as it goes.”
An amber warning for high winds was in place for south-west Scotland, Lothian, the Borders and Strathclyde as The National went to press. There were also four flood alerts and a further 14 warnings were put in place by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency across coastal regions vulnerable at high tide in Ayrshire, Arran and Dumfries and Galloway.
Scotland’s Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said the conditions would lead to disruption and added: “Motorists should check Traffic Scotland before they set off to make sure that their route is available.”
The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have already experienced the worst of the storm, with three lives lost during a day of hurricane-force winds that gusted over 100mph in places.
A man died in Ravensdale, Dundalk, Co Louth, after a tree struck the car he was in at around 2.45pm. Earlier, a man in his 30s was killed in a chainsaw accident as he tried to remove a fallen tree in Cahir, Co Tipperary. The first person to die was a woman in her mid 50s who was killed when her car was hit by a falling tree near the village of Aglish in Waterford.
About 360,000 homes and businesses were without power as the storm made its way north. All schools and colleges in Northern Ireland and the Republic remain closed today.
The roof of Cork City FC’s football stadium was blown off, and special arrangements were made in Dublin to get homeless people off the streets.
About 130 flights were cancelled at Dublin Airport and ESB, the Republic of Ireland’s electricity network, warned more outages were expected.
Flood warnings were in place along the Pembrokeshire coast, north-west England, Cornwall and Dorset.
After footage emerged of people swimming in Dublin and Galway Bays, the RNLI has warned people to stay away from the sea.
Lifesaving manager Matt Crofts said: “We strongly urge people to respect the water and watch from a safe distance.”
The phenomenon of a “red sun” was also seen across much of the UK yesterday because Ophelia had dragged dust from wildfires in Portugal into the atmosphere. The crew of several aircraft, including two that made emergency landings at Edinburgh Airport, reported a smell of smoke in their cabins but all landed safely.
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