A major clean-up operation gets underway in County Tipperary this morning in the wake of Ophelia.
The storm claimed the lives of three people including a 31 year old Ardfinnan man – he has been named locally as Michael Pyke.
It’s understood he was killed when struck by a falling branch while he was trying to clear a fallen tree at Ballybrado on the back road between Ardfinnan and Cahir at around 12.30 yesterday afternoon.
Structural damage was caused to a number of buildings in Tipperary including the Curtains & Blinds shop on Clonmel’s O’Connell Street which had its roof blown off, St Michael’s National School in Clerihan suffered damage to its roof as did the Lidl store on Clonmel’s Davis Road.
Well over 10,000 homes are without power across County Tipperary with areas around Cashel, Tipp Town, Clonmel, Kilfeacle and Cappawhite among the worst hit.
Nationally approximately 300,000 people are without power this morning in the wake of Ophelia.
A major clean up operation will begin this morning – however members of the public are being urged to stay away from fallen power lines.
Derek Hyland from ESB Networks has this appeal.
