Storm Ophelia: second person killed in Ireland, police confirm - as it happened

A person in Dundalk, near the border with Northern Ireland, has died after a tree fell on their car, taking the death toll in Ireland as a result of the storm to three, Dublin-based station 98FM and others are reporting.

Schools in Ireland will not reopen tomorrow, the Irish minister for education has announced, citing the need to ensure child safety.

Unsurprisingly, Cork airport has said there will be no more flights today, with a video illustrating why.

16 Oct 201710.42 EDT

Henry McDonald

Northern Ireland Electricity has announced that 1,300 customers are without power as Storm Ophelia starts to batter the region this afternoon.

NIE is reporting what it describes as “widespread damage” across Northern Ireland. As the storm system rolls over the north of Ireland, the rail link between Belfast to Dublin has been temporarily shut down.

The Associated Press reports that the wind speed off Cork has reached 118mph.

Meanwhile wind speeds in Wales are also increasing, hitting 77mph.

Coastal defences in Galway, on Ireland’s west coast, have been overwhelmed.

Readers around Ireland and the UK have been getting in touch to share their experiences of the storm as it passes by where they live.

Crawford Deane, in Timoleague, south-west of Cork, shared images of trees strewn across local roads, which he said were mostly deserted:

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Deane added: “I’m safely home, although had to abandon my van and walk home through fields near Farnivane. Since then the local mast and electrical substation are out.”

Conor Graham, in Cork, has described missile-like tiles flying off buildings and implores other readers to stay safe.

There are also multiple reports of that red-tinged sun – as experts have said debris from the storm is causing a haze in areas as far away as Chesterfield, Solihull and Surrey.

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You can share your experiences using the form here or with the GuardianWitness contribute buttons on this page, but please think of your safety first when recording or sharing content.

The Irish Republic’s Electricity Supply Board has said that 360,000 customers are now without power due to Storm Ophelia.

The energy supplier warned that more outages are expected and that repair operations could take several days. Meanwhile, power cuts are starting to happen in Northern Ireland, including at the Stormont Parliament, where Bill Clinton was meant to be visiting today.

16 Oct 201710.14 EDT

Henry McDonald

An international photojournalist has contacted the Guardian with a graphic account of what it was like to be in an aircraft trying to land in Dublin in the middle of Storm Ophelia. You can see footage of another plane’s precarious landing in Dublin in an earlier update.

Writing from an Aer Lingus plane after it just touched down a few minutes ago, Paulo Nunes Santos wanted to praise the female pilot who guided flight EI483 from Lisbon safely home.

Santos, originally from Portugal but who has lived in Dublin for 15 years, said:

I’ve been in hundreds, if not thousands of flights, but never experienced this level of turbulence.

We only started feeling it more or less as we started approaching via Cork. The pilot was great. The plane shook like mad and the approach to the runway was the worst I have experienced. But the pilot, she was brilliant.

Oddly there was no panic among the passengers. Every clapped and applauded the pilot, we were told her name is Niamh Jennings. You feel the huge sense of relief in the plane.

Irish police have confirmed that a man in his 30s was killed while clearing a tree with a chainsaw in Ballybrado, Tipperary.