Our Climate has changed quickly - Have we?

I was fortunate enough to be in my home Blackrock village in 2016 to witness an unusual weather evet occurred. I am used to high tides living near the coast in one of Ireland most beautiful (and tidiest) villages overlooking the Cooley Peninsula in Louth. But on the morning Jan 3rd 2016 a combination of storm weather, onshore winds and a high tide created massive (30 foot high) waves crashing on the main street completely flooding it. A once in 100 year event so we were told.

But on Friday 24th Jan 2025 the next BIG one arrived for all of Ireland in the form of Storm Eowyn which brought a RED level shutdown of the country and record gusts of over 180 kms per hour. Described as a once in 80 year event it brought power outages for over 1 million people and caused over 100k people to still be without power 3 days later and possible for the rest of the week. As the repairs continue and yet another less severe storm lashed the country on Sunday - the question will inevitably be asked about how prepared are we in this new reality?

Warnings - "Dont Take Unnecessary Journeys"

You can't say we were not warned about this one. Met Eireann, UK Met Office and even the superbly reliable Alan in Carlow Weather all called this days before. We have had a couple of false alarms before and predicting weather tracks is not an easy thing - but all of the forecasters seemed to get this one right. The fact that we don't have a public flood alert system is baffling even though the Government and County councils have access is beyond me.

Power - 1 million people in the dark

For over 1 million homes and business in Ireland to loose power in one event is unprecedented in my life time. I remember living through the "Big Snow" events in the 80's and we still had power in most towns and cities. But this was on a different scale. Although the ESB services has been working relentlessly in atrocious weather you have to wonder will people be looking at the event on Monday morning thinking - "Are we really ready for this if it happens again soon ?"

Broadband - Disconnected From the Grid

As I sit typing this post on the fourth day with no broadband and a barely stable 4G connection on the phone I am wonder what the start of the working week will bring. Friday was a completely lost day for everyone trying to work from home and Monday may be another depending on where you are. Not to mention that every parent in the country is keenly aware on how many times the kids have asked "When is the broadband back"? Not least because of how many of us of have also lost our TV service due to the digital switchover we all applauded a few years ago. Its only when you loose the connection to the grid do you realise how many devices on your house are now connected to it.

Businesses - Cash is king again

In our rush to make payments easier and faster I wonder did we consider what might happen if business phone lines, ATMS and credit cards machines all stopped working. How many of you saw notices on your favourite restaurant Facebook page saying "Phone Lines Down - Card Machine Down" and advising to call in and bring cash! The cost to businesses is yet to be really felt and from Monday people are going to really start to see that effects of lost business, online orders or damaged stock. The longer the outage goes on the more severe the impact will be on sales or supply lines from Monday.

Water - Never mind a coffee - A wash might be nice

I know lots of people who havent had a shower now in 3 days. Not nice to say that least and the reality is that will become a real problem for folks (if not already) as they become very unhappy at not being able to at least have a warm wash. Its really staggering to think how quickly basic services went off and people are now really fed up as the working week starts already. Out water systems are now digitally integrated far more than even twenty years ago.

Lessons For the Future

So what can we learn from this event? Well, as Climate Change kicks in they are going to become more common. More severe storms in Winder, wetter weather all round and hotter weather in Summer so will have to adapt. From a business point of view how many people are now looking into getting mobile dongles or moving to 5G or Satellite Broadband. How many businesses are investing in a second mobile as a contact point. How many businesses are thinking about buying a generator or a solar panel connected to a battery pack just to keep their business running. How many credit card, wages and payment systems are backlogged. How many supply chains have been disrupted or stock ruined due to lack of power.

From a National point of view I am heartened to see the Government talking about rolling out Emergency Hubs for communities with no electricity, water or broadband. I also notice Hotels and Digital Hubs adapting to take in newcomers this morning and possibly for the rest of the week. The "all hands to the pump" attitude is something us Irish do well in an emergency but as the scale of these emergencies grow we will have to scale up plans, equipment and people to tackle them. It will cost alot and even though climate experts told us the cost of sustainability would be cheaper - we haven't listened and moved too slow.

We need to be prepared and this shock to the system should be a wakeup call both in our personal and business lives.

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