Dublin, Dec. 9, (PA Media/dpa/GNA) – Some 55,000 homes, farms and businesses remained without power in Ireland on Sunday evening following Storm Darragh.
High winds with gusts of up to 141 km/h recorded by state meteorological service Met Eireann caused widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure across the country.
The worst-impacted areas included the North West, Midlands and South East. Almost 400,000 customers were without electricity at the peak of the storm.
The state owned electricity company ESB Networks said at 5pm on Sunday that approximately 55,000 properties remained without power.
They described the impact of the storm as similar to that of Storm Ophelia in 2017, which left 385,000 customers without power at the peak but with more widespread impact across the country.
They said all ESB Networks crews and partner contractors would continue working into Sunday night to safely restore power to as many customers as possible in challenging conditions, adding that crews from French counterparts, Enedis, would arrive on Monday to assist with power restoration in the worst-impacted areas.
But they warned that significant numbers would be without supply for a number of days, and some for around a week.
GNA