Trinity confirms closure for Hurricane Ophelia

“All staff and students are urged to stay away from campus unless completely necessary,” College tweeted

     

Trinity has officially announced it will close tomorrow, October 16, due to Hurricane Ophelia, following Met Éireann’s upgrade to a status red weather warning to the entire country. The Department of Education and Skills’ subsequently called for all schools and colleges to remain closed.

College made the announcement tonight through their Twitter account, which follows its earlier assurance that the college would run as normal. They tweeted: “All staff and students are urged to stay away from campus unless completely necessary.”

Speaking to Trinity News earlier tonight, College’s 24 hour security team stated that college activities would “remain as normal” tonight, and would open on Monday as usual. However,  just after 9pm, Trinity confirmed this would not be the case.

The Department of Education and Skills made a statement earlier this evening confirming all school, university and institute of technology closures for tomorrow, saying: “This decision has been made following discussions with members of the Government Task Force on Emergency and in light of the advice from Met Éireann on this unprecedented storm.”

Earlier this evening, in a statement made through their Facebook page, University College Cork (UCC) stated that they would close the college “to ensure the safety of students”. National College of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) also rescheduled graduation ceremonies that were planned to take place that day. Students were told that the ceremonies would take place on Saturday instead.


The hurricane is expected to make landfall at 6 am tomorrow morning. It is predicted by Met Éireann to be one of the worst storms to hit the country in over 50 years.


Aisling Grace

Aisling Grace was the Editor-in-Chief of the 66th Volume of Trinity News. She was also formerly Online Editor and Deputy News Editor.