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Updated 11.40am
SEVERAL PEOPLE HAVE had to be rescued from their cars after becoming trapped during the storm.
People had been advised to remain indoors from 4pm yesterday, where possible.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána asked motorists “to avoid unnecessary journeys”.
“Many roads remain impassable and local authorities are prioritising national routes. If you must travel and become stuck, contact emergencies services,” gardaí advised.
This morning, the National Emergency Coordination Group (NECG) withdrew the public safety advice to shelter indoors, saying: “The blizzard conditions have passed.”
However, the group noted: “Conditions are and will remain very difficult and the public are advised continue to exercise high levels of caution for their own safety in the extreme cold, accumulated snow and icy conditions underfoot.”
People who are stuck in their vehicles have been advised to keep the engine running until help arrives.
Tom Murphy of the Garda Roads Policing Unit told RTE Radio 1′s Morning Ireland that many motorists had not heeded the warnings to remain indoors, causing “a lot of difficulties for rescue crews and hampering the efforts of snow-sweepers”.
“There was a lot of drifting of snow in Lucan and Tallaght and we are still trying to identify if people are still stranded in cars.
I am aware of one incident where the snow drifted so much that the only way we could identify the car was to ask the woman to place her handbag on top of her car.
Asked what excuses people had for driving in the dangerous conditions, Murphy added: “I’ve been told families were out with their kids to see the snow. There were people at the back of Dublin Airport getting stranded, increasing the pressure on rescue services to deal with them.
“I would ask, on behalf of rescue groups, not to use any vehicles this morning unless it’s an emergency. While city centre might look clear, there are no guarantees your journey would be clear of snow.”
Putting people’s lives at risk
Transport Minister Shane Ross also appealed to people to only make “the most necessary of journeys”.
“I have been advised that road conditions are extremely treacherous and while local authorities are doing extraordinary work clearing snow and salting surfaces, obviously they will concentrate on the major arteries. Therefore, even though the advice to ‘stay at home’ has been lifted, I would strongly advise people to take only the most necessary of journeys.
Please do not use the roads today unless you absolutely have to.
Ross said many roads are still impassable and “those that have been cleared still pose a significant risk to drivers”.
“During the night some motorists became trapped in their cars and we would hope that people today will use common sense and not risk their own safety and that of our emergency services. If your journey is vital please ensure that you pack safety supplies into your car.
“However, I appeal to anyone who is thinking of making a journey to stop, ask themselves if they really need to get into that car, and if possible, decide against it. Remember, it’s not just your own life you’re risking. Keep warm, keep safe, keep indoors and if you can, relax and enjoy an unexpected long weekend,” Ross said.
Ambulances stuck
David Kavanagh of Dublin Fire Brigade told Morning Ireland the fire service experienced a very busy night.
“As the winds got up we started getting a few call-outs. About 1.45am we had a major power outage, we dealt with 214 ambulance cases.
Ambulances were stuck in the snow. Some of the crews dug themselves out.
“We had a number of calls around country areas. We did have several people stuck in cars who needed help. A number of people were stuck around the Julianstown area off the M1.”
Sean O’Neill from Transport Infrastructure Ireland told Newstalk Breakfast that TII staff found a number of people stranded in their cars and brought “to the nearest hotel and left them there … that’s all we can do”. Speaking to Ryan Tubridy later, O’Neill called people who drove in the snow without good reason “knuckleheads”.
Gardaí and the Defence Forces were among those to help essential staff like healthcare employees get to work during the storm.
A status red snow-ice warning will remain in place for Munster, Leinster and Galway until 6pm. A status orange snow-ice warning will be in place for Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo until 6pm.
With reporting by Garreth MacNamee
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There was enough warning for people to know not to be out in it. If they don’t have an incredible excuse (some sort of emergency maybe) then they should be fined for putting our emergency workers at risk
@Caroline Reid: A credible excuse would be better.
@Ste Godfrey: bravo ste. What a statement.
@Ste Godfrey: you’re a clown.
@Ste Godfrey: don’t think their job includes rescuing dopes who are too ignorant to leave their car in the drive for a couple of days
@Ste Godfrey: Fair play to the Gardai, Ambulance Personnel & Fire Services who do their job every day no matter what with limited resources while some people in this country continue to give out about them and have no idea what they have to deal with on a daily basis.
@Ste Godfrey: The used the time and facilities to serve their own selfishness depriving others more genuinely deserving.
@Ste Godfrey: what an outrageous comment! Emergency staff have a job to do- be ready to respond to emergencies- life/death scenarios.
Also, an effective emergency service needs to have ‘capacity’ (ie people waiting and apparently doing very little) as you cannot predict the scale or numbers needed or when…
I hope you aren’t in a life/death situation and an ambulance service cannot get to you in time because there weren’t services available or being diverted by people weather watching or some such.
@Ste Godfrey: They’re not expecting medals for doing it. They’re warning people not to venture out for their own safety. With the country the way it is right now resources are stretched thin. By venturing out unnecessarily, people are putting the lives of themselves and the rescue workers in danger. Are you really that incapable of working that out? They are out there right now in awful conditions saving people’s lives while you moan and whinge about them in so much comfort that you have the time and luxury to write stupid comments.
@Ste Godfrey: I know of no emergency service personnel looking for medals- that those they rescue and their communities want to acknowledge their life saving work is only right and proper.
What is your beef? Maybe you’d do well to shadow a fire person.. and you might learn how inappropriate your views are (though even that won’t be enough unless you remove your bigoted blinkers).
@Ste Godfrey: we’re you rejected from joint the fire brigade ste???:(((((
@Ben Gunn: thanks, you’re right
@Ste Godfrey: of course it’s their job but when fair warning has being given people should know better than to put these hero’s lives at risk!
@Ste Godfrey: Their job isn’t to put their lives at risk for idiots who chose to disregard all the warnings. These people already choose to put their own lives in danger for people who find themselves at peril through no fault if their own. Their job is not to die because of someone else’s stupidity. This is exactly why we have drink driving laws. No one really cares if an idiot who drinks themselves silly and decides to drive home kills themselves in the process. Not really. They made that stupid choice. We do care if they kill other innocent people while they are on the road.
@Ste Godfrey: so you would be quite happy if you had a heart attack and the ambulance dispatcher told you that there were nothing available to help you as they were all out rescuing sightseers?
@Ste Godfrey:
I’m going to put that comment down to you pulling the piss or trolling. I know you just couldn’t be so dumb as to mean it.
Right ?
@Willie: No Willie he always says this about emergency personnel. He clearly has issues with them. He obviously was rejected when he tried to join the fire brigade or another emergency service.
@Ste Godfrey: For once?? Really?
@Caroline Reid: if like in mainland Europe winter tyres were mandatory those Garda and DFB sensational photos wouldn’t be necessary..2 inches and icy sounds like uni pillow talk from the great oul days
@Catherine Sims: You are probably right. And now each day he demonstrates that who ever knocked him back made the right decision … granted with the intelligence on show here, it was an easy decision.
@Chicinho: Would these countries have more than a few days of snow every few years by any chance? And are these tyres to be stored in the garage ready for use or are we expected to run unsuitable tyres for all those winter days when it doesn’t snow?
@Pablo: Snow shoes are easier to put on the two drive wheels, no one’s saying buy a whole new set of tyres. Or stay in during red alert weather.
@Ste Godfrey: What an awful thing to say. Emergency services work extremely hard in all weather conditions. I hope you never need to call them, if your do you will eat your words.
@Chicinho: we get snow for at most a day or two every couple of years. People don’t have the money let alone the storage room for things that they will rarely use if even need. If people listened to the warnings and prepared properly then there wouldn’t be a problem. It more than likely won’t kill anyone to stay in doors for 24hrs but it is more likely to kill someone if they go out in a snowstorm. It’s about being sensible which clearly some people aren’t capable of.
@Ste Godfrey: like the woman who decided to go swimming today and needed to be rescued ? She should be fined for putting other lives at risk over her own stupidity .
@Ste Godfrey: What a crass statement
@Ste Godfrey: Grow up ….I presume you are not seven years old
@Ste Godfrey: totally not the point ..Hope none of your family will be waiting in extreme need while the emergency services are held up dealing with some a..hole who thought he was invincible.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: is there not wheel chains you can put on for snow be easier then putting on new tyres. These should be mandatory in snow.
Everyone had ample time to prepare for this, including looking after elderly people, getting food on. Yet still people decide to go out and put emergency personnel at risk. Should have been left to fend for themselves.
Maybe they were emergency workers or care/hospital staff that had no choice but to brave the conditions. They could be council workers going back on shift to grit roads. Not all people able sit at home all day..
@Siobhan Kenny: Well said – conclusion jumpers abound…
@Bruce Miller: this is jumping to a conclusion
@Siobhan Kenny: Totally agree. There’s an almost militant judgementalism in the Journal comments at times like this.
@Ironballs: agree, it’s ridiculous.
@Bruce Miller: Reports indicted that all
Medical staff were staying in the hospitals etc and those who were unable to make it in were told to stay at home, the natural conclusion would be that they were all not essential journeys.
@Siobhan Kenny: maybe but more likely selfish idiots who rely on kindness of others to rescue them when their foolish endeavours place them in harm’s way
@Siobhan Kenny: Yes maybe some but not all of them
@Alan Scott: Gritting was stopped too so not council workers. As the article said it was families out looking at the snow .
@Siobhan Kenny: the article is specifically directed at those who chose to go out unnecessarily. It was saying nothing about those who needed to be out, hence “emergency travel only” being repeated throughout the article
Ah sure people think they know best, Met Eireann get it wrong all the time, that’s the attitude of majority of people though, they have been absolutely spot on the last few days. They should be fined for wasting emergency resources!
@Warren Collier: Eh “ Once in a generation weather even “ “ visibility will be non existent “
They didn’t get that right
@Keith Flood: For you.
A word of thanks to the unsung heroes as well, the neighbours who checked on the elderly or ran to the shops for them. Also, a thanks to those who cleared their footpaths to make it easier for others.
Absolute clowns
@The Eagle: I can’t decide which part of your post is less relevant, the cost of running TII or his accent.
@The Eagle: …… a hollow headed eagle concerned about a bald headed eagle. Snow joke
@The Eagle: because that’s how we should run the country? Based on “what would Trump do?”
Should have been left there. Putting other lives in danger.
@Finbarr Lucey: stupid statement, some people had their children with them.
@Linda Daly: so child endangerment then?
@Linda Daly: Even more ridiculous to take children out in it!!!
@Linda Daly: that proves what idiots they were.
@Finbarr Lucey: They were total idiots to bring their children out in a red alert. Yes they should be charged with child endangerment. But leave them there and not rescue them? No. The children were probably scared enough without spending the night freezing and hungry in a car.
@Dave O Keeffe: yes
@Linda Daly: would you have your children out at night after being warned of the danger of doing so. Of course I wouldn’t let young children there but shame on those parents who had them out in the mist of a storm that was going to create absolute havoc. Common sense has to prevail in which it didn’t.
What is wrong with these people not heeding warnings to stay indoors and involving other people in their rescue putting more people at risk
@Alan Scott: “They find it boring” as one bright spark put it above!
@Alan Scott: “ah shur it’ll be grand”
It took me 30 minutes of driving and digging just to get out of the house yesterday in Kildare. It’s not worth it folks, especially on country roads, sharp bends, bridges or roundabouts.
Keep in mind that many of these people were low-paid workers in precarious employment like takeaways, bars and shops just going home from work. Saying no to working that day or that late may not have been an option.
Of course anyone who was out just to ‘see the snow’ absolutely deserves to get stuck.
Not only their own lives at risk but the people on the front line too
Relax it’s snow emergency services are hardly risking there lives. We deal with this type of snow for months in Canada and no one bats an eyelid.
@Pádraíg O’hEidhin: this isn’t Canada and we don’t have the annual practice or experience.
@Dave O Keeffe: exactly. Just said on the radio Montreal spends 300 million dollars preparing for snow every year, but they get it several times every year. we get it once every 7 or 8 years at most and couldn’t justify that kind of expense. Image we had spent millions on snow ploughs after the last such event in 2010 and they had been sitting idle ever since? the same serial complainers who are moaning about out lack of preparedness would be moaning about the waste of money.
@Dermot Lane: Hope the complainers in the UK about the Gas shortage don’t read your comment
“Out with their kids to see the snow” they deserve to be left there with two sleeping bags and a bottle of water and walk home in daylight !
In fairness the hospital should have a continuation plan in place for events like this.
@Stephen Devlin: yeah they do. Some sleep in nurse accomodation, some sleep on the floor, and others are driven by emergency personnel.
@Stephen Devlin: Hospitals cannot run their ordinary schedule never mind something like what is going on now
I seen a picture of a bmw in howth that crashed into a barrier and went down into a ditch on the Dublin fire brigade twitter , rear wheel drives are useless in snow, you just go around in circles! Some people obviously don’t take heed to warnings and stay in,,very silly!
@Marko: I saw
@Derek: true that Derek! Ha
@Sighle A. Ni Chuana: what did you see????
@Marko: Here in California, where everything is perfect nearly all the time, rear wheel drive cars routinely cross into Nevada over US highway 80, and drive around without much difficulty in conditions much worse than 40cm. We use tire chains or tire cables attached to the wheels (oops, I mean “tyre”). Great fun. Just keep the speed low (under 20mph) and be alert. Deep drifting snow is impossible, which is why we have snowmobiles. But front wheel or rear wheel drive both can use the roads once they are plowed or if the depth is 6″ or less. When I lived in Clare, I didn’t see any snow plows. Gritting was available however. Maybe the boys in Dublin could see their way to purchase and distribute a snowplow to each county to keep the roads open and safe in these times. Might be a more common event with climate change on us like a terrier on a rat!
Some people take a chance but then regret it. If we all did what we were told it would be a boring world. It’s just the way we are
@Paul O Riordan: That is such an immature statement. It is called willfulness
People should pay the cost of their rescue. It’s as simple as that. If they aren’t part of nessecary services and they are just disregarding the advice then they should pay the Full cost of their rescue. Not a fixed fine but rather the full amount of mobilising a rescue .
My neighbor has just cleared my driveway… he was getting Hemorrhoids from sitting down over the past few days. Bless him and his piles
I’ve been bombarded by angry emails of how we should have plans to deal with this situation, seen Canada been referenced.. how apparently we are badly prepared for these events, I’ve also got questions on how suddenly we could provide alot more shelter for the homeless, than previous I honestly look forward to the snow melting despite being warm in the comfort of my home, despite the days off. Oh lord this been hard on me and my PR machine.
What a strange heading for an article
@Brian Jones: I assume the car was almost buried and visibility was poor and the bag on top was to show her location to the emergency services
That first pic is balkill rd/ balkill pk corner up past the church in howth village. Anyone who taught they could drive on that road in snow/ice needs there head examined.
If you don’t have winter tyres, you have no right to be driving. You’re a danger to others coz you’ve no control over your vehicle. It incurs a €120 fine and 1 point on your license in Germany if you’re caught.
How stupid are these people when they were told not to leave home, at least by car? and then ask to be helped? Fines all along.
@Carlos André: Doctors, nurses, fireman…
Great day to watch Russian car-crash videos on YouTube.
I’m not kidding. An hour of that and you’ll be glad you’re in Ireland. ;-)
People are dumb!
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