Around 278,000 homes, farms and businesses remain without power this Sunday evening, as the clean-up operation from the effects of storm Éowyn continues.

On Sunday, ESB Networks had restored power to 490,000 customers impacted by the storm which caused unprecedented damage to the country’s electricity infrastructure.

This is by far the worst storm experienced by ESB Networks both in terms of customers losing supply and the scale of damage across the network, it said.

It has said that by Friday 31 January, the vast majority of those impacted by the storm will have supply restored. However, around 100,000 customers will progressively have their supply restored over the course of the following week.

“Crews are continuing to work late into the evening in difficult conditions due to Storm Herminia. This storm hasn’t caused significant damage to the network; however, it has made power restoration more challenging in places.

“Crews will commence work once again at first light tomorrow morning. Power restoration efforts will remain dynamic and weather conditions may impact on the restoration work,” the utility service said.

Dangerous incidents

ESB Networks said that it has been made aware of several instances of potentially very dangerous incidents where members of the public have unknowingly approached fallen electricity infrastructure.

“Fallen debris after a storm can prevent people from seeing hidden risks such as wires entangled into trees and branches.

“If you come across fallen wires or damaged electricity network, never, ever touch or approach these as they are live and extremely dangerous. Please report any damage to electricity infrastructure by calling 1800 372 999,” it added.

Water outages

Around 109,000 households are without water this Sunday and an additional 112,000 people are now being supplied by schemes where generators have been deployed by Uisce Éireann crews.

Supplies for a further 126,000 people are at risk in areas where power is yet to be restored.

Uisce Éireann said that the areas most impacted are along the west coast and midlands including Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cavan, Monaghan, Westmeath, Donegal and Longford.

Head of water operations at Uisce Éireann, Margaret Attridge noted that while positive progress had been made overnight, the number of people experiencing loss of supply due to power outages remains significant.

“This unprecedented storm event has had a severe impact on our water and wastewater network nationwide. Our crews are on the ground in all impacted areas working to restore water services as quickly as possible, but given the extent of the damage to the power network, it may take some time before full service is restored everywhere.

“We apologise to customers who have been without water for a few days and ask for the public’s continued patience during this challenging time, some customers are also operating with restricted service as treated water storage reservoirs and networks recharge,” she said.