Local authorities urge Dubliners to stay indoors as storm hits capital

LOCAL authorities in Dublin have urged people to stay indoors as ex-Hurricane Ophelia hits the capital.

In a statement just issued, Dublin City Council has asked the public not travel until the storm is over. People are also advised to stay away from coastal areas and other water bodies during the storm. 

There are trees down across the city and council crews are dealing with these and other issues as they are notified.

The Dublin City Council Crisis management team met again today at 1.30pm and were updated by the DCC Flood Assessment Group and the Principle Response Agencies Local Co-ordination Group. 

Dublin City Council operational crews and housing services remain on standby to deal with expected issues.

The council's crisis team will reconvene at 5pm.

Meanwhile, Fingal County Council is in a state of readiness for the aftermath of the storm.

The situation within Fingal is being monitored by the council’s senior and operational management teams. Response arrangements are in place and crews are on standby having spent the morning preparing for the issues they expect to encounter.

In response to the Status Red weather alert in place, sandbags have been distributed across the county to areas where flooding might occur following the storm and are also available from depots

There will be ongoing updates throughout the day via the council’s website, social media platforms and the Fingal Alerts app.

There will be a high risk of flooding along the Fingal coast this evening within an hour of High Water, which is expected to occur at 10.06pm in Balbriggan, 10.18pm in Howth and 10.26pm in Malahide.   

All non-essential Fingal County Council services are closed today due to the storm. This includes libraries, recycling centres, parks, heritage properties, community centres and tourism offices.

The public are again reminded to monitor Met Éireann forecasts for their area, to be aware of the weather conditions and to heed safety warnings.

For further details of sandbag distribution points, please contact Fingal County Council’s Operations Team:

Balbriggan Swords: (01) 8905595/8905596

Howth/Malahide: (01) 8906260

Castleknock/Mulhuddart: (01) 8704599

Fingal County Council can be contacted on (01) 8905000 or after hours on (01) 8731415. You can also email [email protected]