THE FIRST VICTIMS of Hurricane Ophelia have been named locally.
Three people died in three different counties as a result of the storm, which spent all of Monday battering the country as a whole.
58-year-old Clare O’Neill was this evening named as the woman who died this morning in Aglish, Co Waterford.
Clare died when the car she was driving was struck by a falling tree – a second woman in her 70s was injured and brought to hospital. Her injures are not believed to be life-threatening.
Clare lived in Waterford and worked as a cancer support coordinator.
In Co Tipperary, 31-year-old Michael Pyke has been named as the second victim of the storm.
Michael died as a result of a chainsaw accident in Cahir in the Munster county at about 12.30pm.
It’s understood he had been clearing a fallen tree at his property at the time of the tragic accident.
The third victim of Ophelia, a driver in Ravensdale in Co Louth has not yet been named.
With reporting from Cianan Brennan
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