Hurricane O-o-phelia!
Batten down the hatches! Ireland has been hit with its worst storm in 50 years -- Hurricane Ophelia. Yes, you read that correctly. Hurricane. Hurr-i-cane. In Europe.
Chris and I just landed in Dublin last week Tuesday and we've spent the last several days getting our place set up, reuniting with Hugo [yay!], and enjoying our time together before Chris was supposed to head back to work today.
For Chris' first day back to work, I had a big day planned -- my PPS appointment, which is the Irish social security office, do a little shopping to pick up some books to read, try and find some adapters, and pick up some groceries. Then, I was going to hunker down and watch all the reality tv that Chris refuses to watch with me.
Well, Ophelia had different plans for us. Chris got into work this morning at 8:00 a.m. and was nearly immediately sent home because his office was closing. My PPS appointment got cancelled. I still got out and shopped a little in the morning, but half the city was already shut down. So I was only able to pick up some groceries.
![Tesco [grocery store] was a MAD HOUSE. Everyone was stocking up for the storm. I was probably 60th in line for the registers.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/596e936b725e25fb89adced5/1508168793298-2NRSJBYYO0CLJWTOZL9O/IMG_6832.JPG)
Hurricane Ophelia has had a destructive path, not as destructive as in the States or the Caribbean, but destructive nevertheless. It was worst for the western and southern sides of the island, with gusts of winds getting up to nearly 120 mph and waves reaching heights of 40 feet [the size of three double decker buses stacked on top of each other]. There are currently 350,000 people without power and three people have died, according to the Irish Times. [read about it here.] School was cancelled today and will continue through tomorrow.
The winds really picked up at about 1:00 p.m. in Dublin. Lucky for us, we are not getting the worst of it. It's been sunny all day, which has been weird. But the winds are strong and many trees have fallen. Where Chris and I live, we've been pretty protected from the gusts of wind coming at our walls and windows. It seems to be ripping through the street below. All of Ireland has been advised to stay inside. You can see in the pictures below, the streets are empty. No commuters, no students, no lightrail running. We've popped in and out of our balcony to check things out.
Hugo hasn't been the biggest fan of Ophelia. He's pretty agitated by all the noises from the gale force winds. He basically spent the entire afternoon pacing the couch and laying on top of me. He's now nestled with Chris in the bedroom, which is a bit quieter. Little buddy.
The storm in Dublin is expected to ease off in the next hour [6:00 p.m. Ireland time], but heavy winds and rain are still expected in the coming hours. I wanted to write up this quick blog to share our [first] hurricane experience [who ever thought it'd be in Dublin?!], but more importantly, to let everyone know that we're okay.
It's a good thing I picked up that bottle of rosé at the grocery store because it's back to my reality tv and wine for the night! Until next time...
xo, Cheers!
