Ophelia leaves trail of destruction

Work continues to repair damage

Winds in excess of 90mph have battered the Island, as ex-Hurricane Ophelia makes her mark on Great Britain.

Closures, cancellations and delays have been announced throughout the day - and a cleanup operation continues as public services begin to assess the scale of the damage.

An amber weather warning is in place until midnight on Tuesday (17 October).

Here's what we know about the destruction, and disruption, on Monday so far.

Travel

All sailings to and from the Island, between Heysham and Liverpool, were cancelled for the period Monday and overnight. This means some delays to off-Island postal services will persist towards midweek. Media suppliers GE White have confirmed Tuesday's issues of UK newspapers will not be in shops.

Flights in and out of Ronaldsway Airport have also been suspended, meaning an end to overseas Post Office deliveries until services resume.

Roads

At last count, more than two dozen trees fell onto Island roads, causing full or partial blockages. We are aware of at least one traffic collision involving a fallen tree, however no injuries were reported. A falling tree is also understood to have quite narrowly missed a bus traveling in the Braddan area. Some cars were also stranded as roads were blocked at either end by felled branches.

Areas affected were: Ballacraine, Saddle Road, Belmost Hill, Main Road Foxdale, Main Road Onchan, Main Road Baldrine, Tromode Road, Old Castletown Road, New Castletown Road, Ballaleece Bridge, Laxey Coast Road, Ballig, Governors Road Onchan, Croit Y Caley, Glen Road Colby, Quarterbridge, Braddan Bridge, Archallagan Road, Patrick Road, Athol Street, Braaid Roundabout, Crogga Hill, Laurel Bank, Phildraw Road, Jurby Road.

Sandbags were deployed to heavily hit coastal areas including Fenella Beach, Peel, Shore Road, Gansey, Castletown Promenade and Douglas Promenade - which were all closed as a precaution.

The Mountain Road is closed overnight.

Tree down by Tynwald Inn, St Johns blocking 1 and a half lanes. pic.twitter.com/FWOlIAla3v

— TweetbeatIOM (@TweetbeatIOM) October 16, 2017

During the storm we'll do our utmost to keep services running.
Please keep an eye on our pages, where we will try to update on any impact.

— IoM Bus and Rail (@iombusandrail) October 16, 2017

Public services

Among the facilities and businesses to close early were the National Sports Centre, Gaiety Theatre, Isle of Man Post Office, and stores including Marks & Spencer in Douglas. There has been no indication that these will remain closed on Tuesday.

Dramatic photographs show a section of the Palace Hotel's roof was torn away, leading to the site's leisure facilities being closed.

Meanwhile, Manx Utilities says it's dealt with more than 30 power faults so far.

All the team here are on standby to respond to any adverse weather conditions as we await the arrival of #storm #ophelia #staysafe #IOM

— Manx Utilities (@manx_utilities) October 16, 2017

Outlook

Ronaldsway Met Office has predicted a change in conditions as Ophelia passes tomorrow, with drier and much less windy weather on the way.

Whilst the full extent of damage and disruption has not been established, Manx Radio will provide more rolling updates as they become available.

In the meantime, warnings do remain in place - and residents are urged to stay indoors and cancel travel plans unless absolutely necessary.