Man goes swimming off Galway as Storm Lorenzo batters Irish coast
A man was filmed going swimming in the choppy waters of Galway,despite Storm Lorenzo battering the Irish coast.
PhD student Maria Sanabria was filming at Blackrock when she spotted someone heading into the waves.
In a Twitter thread, she said: “Scary business here in #Galway as #Stormlorenzo hits #Ireland.
“And yet, there’s always somebody in the water at #blackrock.”
She said the unknown man later got out of the water safely.
Ms Sanabria said: “I’ve seen this before and sure it wasn’t as bad as other storms, but there was an alert nonetheless and they were putting their lives in danger and the lives of the people that, should something happen, would have had to rescue them.
“Earlier that day the rescue services evacuated a woman from the Aran Island who really needed medical assistance, that’s a good use of resources, but not this.
“Every few months we can get one like Lorenzo and they put up an alert. Everyone was saying that Lorenzo was not as bad as they made it sound considering other storms we’ve had.”
At the peak of the storm, Met Office issued a Status Orange warning for parts of Ireland, as gales and gusts of wind reached 65km per hour on Thursday.
Thousands of homes and businesses have been left without power as Storm Lorenzo continues to pass through Ireland.
In Co Wexford, a kite surfer was taken to hospital after being blown on to the shoreline in the Lady’s Island area near Rosslare.
In Co Kerry, a search operation for a missing surfer was stood down after the man was found safe and well.