Storm Darwin hits Courtown

It has been several days since I posted but that is because of the power cuts that have affected so much of the south of Ireland. So although I wrote this by candle light while I still had some battery life on Wednesday, it has only been possible to post it now, now that ESB has got power back to the area. Other areas are still waiting – I extend my sympathy to them – all 60,000 at the time of writing.

The series of storms that has hit Ireland and the UK over the past six weeks or so reached their peak of ferocity on the 12^th. This post would have been published earlier but I am writing this by candle light because I am one of the 240,000 who are without power. I know that it is an English obsession to prattle on about the weather but it really has been exceptional. The day started with heavy rain and strong winds but as the rain died down about lunchtime the winds reached gale force. I hate strong winds and have done so since the storm in 87 but I think this was as bad or worse. It was really scary to stand in the garden, away from trees I might add, and hear trees that have been there a century or more cracking all around. And then to see them uprooted, branches snapping off and great limbs being ripped from old specimens.

A huge Scot’s pine, stag headed and half dead, rocked at the top of a sodden bank. The soil around it’s base heaved as if the tree was taking its last breath and with each rock it pumped out muddy water from the bank as though it had been fatally wounded and was bleeding to death at its very core. Roads all around are blocked by fallen trees, mostly old trees heavy with ivy that could not withstand the relentless and roaring winds. The sound was deafening as the wind roared with real anger across the landscape.

Down at Courtown harbour (I went mainly to go to the gym so I could get a shower – I have no power remember) the sea was wild. Overhead power lines were down and roads were blocked but the most dramatic scene of all was in the centre of town. Some apartments, built on the site where the much missed Tara Hall once stood – the subject of many affectionate memories – have lain mostly empty since they were built, although a few are occupied – a legacy of those ’Celtic Tiger’ years. I had heard someone say that the roofs had blown off and smashed into the filling station opposite but I had not realised that it was not just the roof covering but the roof! A huge section had blown off and onto the forecourt. How no one was killed I cannot fathom! Chunks of yellow insulation lay around the streets like sea foam on the beach. It is supposed to be calmer on Thursday, before the next storm hits.

PS. It is now Saturday and yesterday was wet but not quite as windy here. I am hoping for a few drier days.

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