Updated at 9am
LOCAL AUTHORITY CREWS are out this morning clearing trees and other fallen debris from the roads in the wake of yesterday’s massive storm, which caused structural damage and massive travel problems across the country.
The southern half of the country was worst affected, with hundreds of trees down on routes all over Cork and Kerry.
There’s some disruption to rail and bus systems this morning, but most services are getting back to normal.
Gardaí issued this update on the road transport situation at daybreak:
They’re also advising motorists to proceed with caution in all areas:
Gardaí wish to advise the public to be aware of the prevailing weather conditions following the recent severe weather. Road conditions are hazardous due to black ice and recent snow showers throughout the country. Fallen trees and debris may be encountered on many roads.
In short… Where-ever you’re driving this morning expect to encounter a fallen tree (or seven).
Some rail services aren’t running and others are delayed as a result of the storms.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Irish Rail’s Jane Cregan said there were trains running on all routes “with the exception of Tralee to Mallow and Limerick to Athenry”. Bus transfers are running on those routes.
She said there were some delays on Waterford and Cork services as a result of power outages on level crossings.
Over 100 workers have been out removing trees from the rail network overnight. Cregan said there had been 21 trees down between Limerick Junction and Mallow yesterday.
At the height of the storm, the company sent staff equipped with chainsaws on trains heading to areas likely to be affected by fallen trees.
Irish Rail are, as always, all over Twitter this morning providing updates @IrishRail.
Bus Eireann issued its last travel update at 10.20pm last night with the company reporting diversions on many routes.
However services for Limerick city were resuming after being suspended for a time earlier yesterday. Galway services are also back on.
Many other routes in the south and west of the country were operating on alternate routes, although some were resuming.
In Dublin, things are more or less back on schedule:
Irish Ferries has cancelled sailings of its smaller craft on the Dublin-Holyhead route, the ‘Swift’. The larger ‘Ulysses’ will depart at 10am instead of 08.05am.
There was also disruption on Stena Line routes yesterday. Check for updates here.
Flights in Dublin this morning were operating pretty much as normal, but the DAA is advising anyone with a flight today to check with their airline.
This was the message from Cork Airport:
All early morning departures will operate but all with delays due to aircraft needing to be de-iced arising from overnight snowfall and low temperaturesPassengers are advised to check the latest status of their flight with their airline.
And in Shannon, early morning flights departed as normal, but “contact airline” notices were in place for some UK-bound services this afternoon.
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