Western part of Britain to be worst affected
Gushing at 70mph, Ophelia is looking to smash through Britain this Sunday as the country faces being hit by one of the worst storms in almost a decade, states the met office. The western part of the country will be most affected by this sudden hurricane and the areas can witness winds between 60mph and 70mph.
Ophelia is crossing the Atlantic Ocean and could bring wet weather and gusts of up to 70mph when it hits the UK shores this weekend.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Ophelia strengthened into a hurricane yesterday afternoon, making it the 10th hurricane so far this year in the Atlantic.
Forecasters also believe that while the impact of Ophelia will not be as severe as the Great Storm of 1987, which hit Britain 30 years ago, the storm will most likely resemble the Tropical Storm Grace which stormed the country in 2009.
The Great Storm of 1987 had reportedly claimed 18 lives and caused damage of £1bn.
Met Office forecaster Alex Burkhill has stated: “Ophelia became a hurricane overnight and the forecast track takes it eastwards towards Iberia for the weekend.”
After that, indications are that by that point it will then have weakened and be no longer a hurricane or tropical storm, it will be extratropical. But then it will continue its way towards the British Isles, probably reaching us very early next week.”
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