JANUARY 2008

Storm across Inishowen

Last Tuesday's (8th January) storm in Inishowen was one of the worst ever to hit the peninsula. Malin Head weather station recorded a gust of 174 kph (108mph), its third highest gust on record. The highest was from the remnants of Hurricane Debbie in September 1961 when a gust of 181 kph (113mph) was recorded, while the St. Stephen's Day storm of 1998 witnessed the second strongest winds.

Several thousand homes in Inishowen experienced electricity outrages, some of which lasted overnight although the ESB said they had returned service across the peninsula by early Wednesday morning. Slates were torn from roofs in home from Malin to Newtowncunningham while a number of roads were impassable due to fallen trees. Firs in the Coilte forest on the Buncrana-Muff road leading to Grania's Gap were snapped like matchsticks as winds whipped through the valley.

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