THREE people have died in Ireland in incidents related to Storm Ophelia.
Tragedy struck in Louth, Tipperary and Waterford on a day when the country was on red alert and a nationwide state of emergency had been declared as winds hit up to 160km per hour.
This afternoon, a man in his 30s died in Ravensdale, Dundalk, Co. Louth after his car was struck by a tree around 2.45pm.
Another man in his early 30s died while clearing a fallen tree in Co Tipperary.
He sustained the fatal injury while clearing a fallen tree with a chainsaw at Ballybrado, Cahir at about 12.30pm.
He has been named as Michael Pyke from Ardfinnan.
His body has been removed to Clonmel Hospital.
Three people die in Storm Ophelia incidents https://t.co/LR3W79JXct pic.twitter.com/Lm4g5pHuj5
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 16, 2017
A woman in her 50s also died when a tree fell on the car she was driving in Co. Waterford on the R671 near the village of Aglish at 11.40am.
Gardaí say conditions across the country are treacherous.
Motorists are urged not to travel anywhere unless it is an emergency.
Approximately 330,000 homes are also without power this evening due to fallen trees on overhead lines.
It may take up to 10 days for power to be restored to around five to 10 per cent of these homes.
Ophelia is now moving northwards bringing very strong winds to Northern Ireland along with parts of north and west Wales.
Winds are expected to peak across southwest Scotland this evening.
