Winter storms

 

Storm Darragh, our fourth winter storm already and it's not even winter yet, was due in overnight. We prepared as best we could. We were under red alert. Those are rare enough out here. But they were warning people not to go out that it was expected to be violent storm force 11. I cancelled my appointment for an MRI in Galway. No sense in travelling for a non-emergency procedure. 

We got our new LED flashlights ready and put new batteries into our transistor radios. The donkeys were secured in the hay shed. Loose objects were up away. Dark clouds started wafting in at sunset. It had been breezy all day, gusting past 50 knots out of the SW. The temperature was mild. We put the cars away in the shed in case of flying debris. 

I cooked a lovely dinner of beef rouladen, potato pancakes and cooked cabbage. We had a nice fire going in the fireplace and a warm Stanley range in the kitchen. We started watching the new Transformers movie until the Toy Show would come on at 9:30 but we forgot. At 10:00 the wind shifted to the NW and increased dramatically. Almost instantly the lights went out. Power failure. Oh well. We chatted for a bit and went to bed. 

Looking at the wind history, it's frightening to see how quickly the wind shifted. It didn't build gradually. It shifted from SW gusting just over 20 knots to NW and gusting almost 80 knots in an instant. Had that happened at sea, it would likely have been catastrophic. Think about it -- 80 knots is 92 mph or 148 kph. That's Cat 1 hurricane strength. 

During the night, I awoke repeatedly to sleet showers, hail showers, torrential rain and violent wind gusts. Ghostie cuddled up with me while Alex slept through it all. 

By morning, the sunrise was lovely but it was still blowing hard. It didn't look like there was much damage, but our neighbour's tree toppled onto the road and someone cut a path through it for cars to pass. Must have been Pat on his way to work, cutting his way out with a chainsaw. Alex carries a chainsaw and pitchfork in the car after every storm. 

Fortunately, we have both a gas hob and a solid fuel range so cooking is not an issue. After breakfast, Alex got Selkie, the BYD Seal, down from the shed and we plugged the house in again. We bought the right car at the right time. Used only 1% of power for 6 hours of running the fridge, phones and laptops. 

We surveyed the damage,  The polytunnel was undamaged. A lot of stuff was scattered about. The scaffolding on the donkey shed construction site was shifted and twisted. A river coming down the field displaced a lot of the gravel laid for the floor. But overall, the damage was not too bad. 

In the vineyard, there was little visible damage. The lid was torn off my toolbox, the chairs and table were scattered but undamaged. It didn't look like any vines were damaged. The northwesterly direction must have helped. The winds continued well into the day and the power was restored at 2 pm. The showers continue and a ghastly cold has settled in. 

Next week is to be sunny and with little wind but bitter cold, with temperatures barely rising above 0C all week. The polytunnel may need to be heated but hopefully, the vineyard won't suffer.