The Met Office has issued Northern Ireland with an amber weather warning as Hurricane Ophelia remains on course to hit Ireland and the UK on Monday.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0warning, of “potential danger to life”, came as Ireland called a national emergency meeting.<\/p>\n
Ophelia, on its way from the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, is currently blowing winds of 90mph (145km\/h).<\/p>\n
The hurricane will be a storm when it hits the UK, exactly 30 years after the Great Storm of 1987\u00a0killed 18 people.<\/p>\n
It is expected to bring severe winds and stormy conditions to parts of Ireland and the UK – with winds of up to 70mph (113km\/h).<\/p>\n
The Met Office said there was a “good chance” Northern Ireland could be hit on Monday afternoon by power cuts, flying debris, large waves in coastal areas and disruption to all travel services.<\/p>\n
It also issued a yellow warning of “very windy weather”, which it updated later on Sunday morning to take in much of northern England and Wales, along with parts of southern and central Scotland.<\/p>\n
The Republic of Ireland’s Met Office has issued a red warning for Wexford, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford.<\/p>\n
It predicts that coastal areas will be hit by winds in excess of 80mph (130km\/h) from 09:00 BST on Monday until Tuesday and is warning against unnecessary travel.<\/p>\n
Ireland’s Department of Education has told all schools in the eight counties affected by the red alert to remain closed on Monday.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Met Office has issued Northern Ireland with an amber weather warning as Hurricane Ophelia remains on course to hit Ireland and the UK on Monday. The\u00a0warning, of “potential danger to life”, came as Ireland called a national emergency meeting. Ophelia, on its way from the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, is currently blowing winds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[999,798],"yoast_head":"\n