The Weather

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 zizu Kilbane wrote:

It needs to be said they there were 3 absolutely needless deaths today. Why didn't these people heed the warnings. It's tragic but they were preventable

I'm sure they did, but obviously felt whatever journey they were making was essential.

As the first country to hit landfall, a storm like that was always going to lead to widespread destruction. It was inevitable that many trees would fall, so it was essential to stay as far away from them as possible. Any cars parked around them were going to be a sitting duck, and of course a number of them got hit. Despite most people's plans for the day severely disrupted, the 72 year old who thought it was a good day to spend 60 seconds in the mercy of the Atlantic's power at Salthill should have been left to his devices, rather than having the rest of the nation see his everyday ritual in action. 

You have to give the authorities credit for the decisions they took. Ultimately, they had a lot of big calls to make, and most of them were spot on, which saved many more lives. But those who say it was the worst storm in half a century, surely most of them are around long enough to remember Hurricane Charley.  