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Displaying items by tag: Storm Diana

Irish Coast Guard teams across Ireland have responded to incidents related to the extreme conditions brought by Storm Diana over the last two days.

Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard was tasked at lunchtime on Tuesday (27 November) to extract a member of the public that had walked out the South Bull wall during stormy conditions.

The safest option in that situation was the casualty to take shelter until the tide dropped.

Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 28 November), the team was called out to the Shankill shoreline close to Shanganagh Water Treatment plant to reports of a vehicle submerged in water with person a trapped.

Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard were tasked immediately along with Rescue 116 from Dublin Airport and Dun Laoghaire RNLI. While crews were responding to the incident, the casualty was rescued by his colleagues. All crews were stood down.

Shortly after, Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard was tasked to another incident at the town’s East Pier, where members of the public were stranded due to waves breaching the pier wall.

On arrival, Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard members identified a few members of public on the pier and advised them to relocate to a safer location.

Elsewhere, Crosshaven Coast Guard was tasked several times, starting on Tuesday evening with a person who had fallen overboard from a yacht and had been in the water for almost an hour.

The casualty was evacuated to Crosshaven RNLI’s lifeboat station, while the coastguard crew refloated their vessel that had gone aground.

Crosshaven was tasked again yesterday morning to recover a yacht after it broke its mooring near Drakes Pool. A tow was quickly established and casualty vessel brought to safety to a Royal Cork Yacht Club mooring.

The Irish Coast Guard strongly advises the public to stay away from exposed beaches, cliffs and piers, harbour walls and promenades along the coast during storm conditions.

Remember to Stay Back, Stay High and Stay Dry.

If you see someone in difficulty in the sea, or on the shore dial 999/112 and ask for the coastguard.

Published in Coastguard

Met Éireann says a Status Yellow gale warning is in effect on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea as of 6am this morning (Tuesday 27 November) as the first of two waves of stormy weather conditions passes over the country.

Heavy downpours with spot flooding, and gales and severe gusts will be experienced nationwide, particularly from Dublin and much of south Leinster, across Munster, up to west Connacht and Donegal.

Winds are expected die down after 3pm but will pick up again this evening and overnight into Wednesday 28 November, again with very blustery strong to gale force winds, southeast veering southwest. Donegal Weather Channel predicts a potential Status Orange warning later today.

Published in Weather
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Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!