Updated, 09.41
THE ESB HAS said that electricity was restored to all but a few hundred homes by last night, after up to 25,000 people lost power at some point yesterday when storms damaged power lines across Ireland.
Falling tree branches and other flying debris caused tens of thousands of domestic customers to have power interrupted at some point over the day, as winds of up to 90 miles an hour lashed the country.
Most of the homes were on the country’s west and north-west coast, though some homes in Longford, Roscommon and north Dublin were also affected by the outages.
An ESB spokesman this morning said that rescue teams had been working throughout the day to restore the lost supplies, and by nightfall had returned electricity to all but 230 homes in county Donegal.
200 of those homes were in the town of Letterkenny, with the remaining homes in Killybegs on the county’s southern coast.
Those crews were not able to work during dark hours for safety reasons, he added, but were set to resume their efforts at first light this morning.
This morning power was restored to Killybegs at around 9am, but about 350 homes in Letterkenny would be without power on a phased basis until 4pm with some homes having to be disconnected to facilitate repairs elsewhere.
Many roads around the country were also closed off for some time, particularly in the West, as authorities sought to remove fallen tree branches from the roads.
The weather conditions are set to be much milder today, with no major winds and only scattered showers across the country, though a weather warning remains in place for small craft as winds are set to reach force 6.
The ESB was advised people not to approach any fallen power lines or poles, and to report any electricity outages to them at 1850 372 999.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say