50-Year-Old Woman Dies After Storm Blows Her Caravan Off Cliff In Ireland

A woman died on Wednesday when high winds from Storm Ali that has grounded flights and left more than 100,000 people in Ireland without electricity blew her caravan off a cliff in the western Irish county of Galway.

Irish police said the body of the woman, who was in her 50s, was recovered on a beach in the village of Claddaghduff after the caravan fell from the cliff above.

Some 140,000 homes and businesses were without electricity due to gale force winds that reached over 140 kilometres per hour, Ireland's Electricity Supply Board said, while more than 50 flights in and out of Dublin airport had been cancelled by 1015 GMT.

Ireland's National Meteorological Service said there would be severe and possibly damaging gusts for a time on Wednesday morning, particularly in the west of the country, but that they would ease somewhat through the afternoon.

Three people died in Ireland last October after Tropical Storm Ophelia whipped up 10-metre high waves and battered every corner of the country.