NASA-NOAA satellite took a thermal pic of the clouds in hurricane Ophelia as it lashed Ireland on Sun at 10:54pm ET: https://t.co/IjVebv49qg pic.twitter.com/TrNb2aUrQp
— NASA (@NASA) October 16, 2017
Hurricane Ophelia managed to work its way up the Atlantic and hit Ireland. It’s extremely rare for hurricanes to cross into the Northern Atlantic and make landfall due to the chilly water often breaking up the storms, but it’s not entirely unheard of.
This is the worst storm to hit Ireland since 1961, and it’s absolutely crushing the Emerald Isle. Villages are getting pounded, boats flipped. Trees and farms destroyed. Flooding is happening all over Ireland and the footage is pretty jarring.
When you think of Ireland you think of endless rolling hills of green, peaceful farms, and sheep crossing the road. Your mind doesn’t conjure up images of a hurricane absolutely demolishing the landscape like this:
A roof from a school in County Cork is seen flying through the air as #Ophelia hits Irelandhttps://t.co/zU7af3VODC pic.twitter.com/pF2mlcrum0
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/invisibleman_17/status/919919806408806400
Waves crash into Irish port as deadly Ophelia bears down on Ireland with strong wind gusts and storm surges. https://t.co/AsO4eghyEX pic.twitter.com/QXYx3CEm3K
— ABC News (@ABC) October 17, 2017
As terrifying as some of that footage is, people on Twitter seem to be taking this storm in stride and making jokes about Hurricane Ophelia:
https://twitter.com/declan_corcoran/status/919948974265692161
UK: The sky is blood. The end of days has come
IRELAND: Oh, there goes another house. Mad craic out there Margaret come look #Ophelia
— Kyle Malone (@BetterOffMalone) October 16, 2017
Ireland in a hurricane…
Schools closed
Public Transport Cancelled
Businesses Closed
Pubs Open…#OpheliaIreland #Ophelia pic.twitter.com/BQwBsB1OIY— Nolene Dougan, A Crafty Irish Woman (@NoleneDougan) October 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/Joe_Lyons_/status/919933229465030656
It appears as if rural Ireland was hit significantly harder than Dublin, which isn’t surprising. A city is much more modernized than the rural farmland and thus better able to withstand a devastating storm. To all the people of Ireland, I’m thinking about you from here in Florida and hope you made it through okay.