What part of ‘stay away from the coast’ do people not understand.
The Irish Coast Guard have tweeted about having to save idiots who decided to go kite surfing during the early stages of Hurricane Ophelia in County Louth.
With seas all around the country raging during one of the biggest storms the country had ever seen, the emergency services are set to be on high alert for fallen wires, felled trees, and idiots who decide to put their lives – and the lives of the people whose job it is to save them – at risk for the most stupid of reasons imaginable.
CG, RNLI & R116 were tasked today to kite surfers in difficulty off Louth. We advise the public to stay away from the coast during #Ophelia pic.twitter.com/HkjNWQeBcR
— Irish Coast Guard (@IrishCoastGuard) October 16, 2017
Morons is a great word.
https://twitter.com/ElaineEdwards/status/919866088309055488
Those kite surfers who forced rescue services to go get them deserve to be fined – very heavily. #Opehlia
— Alison O'Connor (@alisonoconn) October 16, 2017
Earlier, the ESB posted this warning to people ahead of the worst stages of the storm.
An updated status red wind warning has been issued from Met Éireann for all parts of the country.
ESB Networks expects extensive damage to electricity infrastructure with many customers without electricity from early tomorrow morning.
When safe to do so, ESB Networks crews will be dispatched to the affected areas making the electricity network safe and assessing the damage, so that power can be restored as quickly and effectively as possible.
Our priority will be taking calls relating to emergency and dangerous situations. ESB Networks asks customers to phone ESB Networks on 1850 372 999 if they see fallen wires or damage to the electricity Network. Under no circumstances should anyone approach fallen wires or any debris, equipment, animals etc which may be close to or touching a fallen wire. These are likely to be live. Please make sure to have a torch when going outside in darkness in case the storm has caused trees to fall down on the Electricity Network.
For information on outages, please check Powercheck.ie and we will be updating Twitter and our website esbnetworks.ie with updates on repairs and restoration times throughout the day.
To be prepared to be without Electricity in case their area is hit by the storm:
- Have plenty of food and water available
- Have torches with spare batteries available
- Make sure your phone is charged and if possible you have a phone charger for your car
- Please check that elderly or vulnerable relatives and neighbours are prepared to be without electricity
- If you have electric gates please check you know how to work them manually
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