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LAST UPDATE | 8 Dec 2024
THOUSANDS OF HOMES are still without power following a day of extremely strong and gusty winds brought by Storm Darragh.
As of 5pm today, approximately 55,000 homes, farms and businesses remain without power, as local councils, emergency workers and the ESB continue to work on repairs to damaged power cables across the country.
Power was restored to 340,000 customers since work began yesterday, after a total of 395,000 customers lost power – a similar impact to that of Storm Ophelia in 2017.
Over 370,000 homes & businesses without power across Ireland after #StormDarragh. Thank you to ESB crews working to restore power. This is major work & will take some time to be fully completed. Other agencies will assist where appropriate too & met this morning to plan that work
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) December 7, 2024
The ESB warned that significant numbers may be without power for for a number of days “due to the severity and significant scale of the damage”, as an assessment of the extent of damage continues.
“We acknowledge the disruption to family and commercial life this causes, and thank customers across the country, especially those who will remain without power over the coming days, for their patience as our crews work to safely restore power,” the ESB said in a statement.
An Post said that it expects all of its post offices to be open for business tomorrow as the ESB works to restore power to all of those affected. It is making deliveries today in “many parts of the country” due to the impact of the storm on its services.
Uisce Éireann is continuing its work to reconnect customers to water supply.
However, it warned that there a number of locations that will take longer to restore supply to. These are generally areas where ongoing power outages have impacted treatment plants and network pumping stations.
“Current estimates indicate that 35 of our 698 water treatment plants are currently affected due to storm-related issues,” a spokesperson said.
They include the Manorcunningham and Letterkenny areas of Donegal, Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim, Longford town, Trim in Co Meath and parts of North Cork around Kanturk and Newmarket.
Highest gusts of 141 km/h were recorded at Mace Head in Galway on Friday night, with gusts of 120 km/h and 115 km/h recorded in Clare and Cork.
Mobile and broadband provider, eir said Donegal and Mayo were the hardest-hit counties in terms of outages, but service disruptions were felt nationwide.
“More than 35,000 broadband faults, 20,000 fixed voice issues and approximately 15% of mobile network site outages have been registered,” it said.
Several Irish airports and train lines were also impacted by the adverse conditions on Saturday.
Includes reporting by Emma Hickey
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Think I would have preferred the bus station!
That’s all very well, but we still need a provincial bus station that isn’t a godforsaken, overcrowded helhole where buses double-park outside during the evening rush (they used to triple-park until the Luas stop got in the way) , the underground toilets are downright scary and many routes have had their Dublin terminus banished to stops on the quays that don’t even have shelters.
@Neal Ireland Hello.: spot on Neil
Instead, we got an overpriced kip, that cheats tourists out of their money. Located in an area similar to Ibiza after 12am.
@Stuart Dickens:
I understand 12 midday and 12 midnight. Please explain what is 12am.
@Donal Hanley: 12am is the same as 12pm, ambiguous as hell! When I worked security, we were trained to record 12 midnight as either 1159 on (say) Tuesday , or 1201 on Wednesday.
@Grotmaster:
Sorry Grotmaster. There is nothing ambiguous about midday and midnight. They are very precise. As to your checking in to work, that may have been due to a computer programme.
@Donal Hanley: 12:00 am is midnight :)
Its the pimple on the face of Dublin. Over priced and filthy. I stay well clear of it when im in town.
@RobbieL: maybe I am cynical but perhaps a large brown envelope exchanged hands for this to become a tourist trap instead of a bus station? Is it traditional to exchange such gifts to needy developers bearing in mind the Godawful architectural crimes on the skyline of Dublin in the recent past? Perhaps I am getting a bit paranoid?
All I’m reading is that the government failed to implement another public transportation scheme…. Pretty much the usual outcome. Who needs public infrastructure that meets demand anyways?
Probably better than an overpriced tourist trap where hardly any Dubs frequent
Temple Bar is a great source of income to the state and it contains the problem of drunken tourists in one small area making it easier to police and easier to avoid.
@Brian O Reilly: its a dump
It’s not. In the 80s it was a dump. Weeds growing out of chimneys on the point of collapsing into the streets. Squatters and glue-sniffers. A law was brought in to either repair your neglected building or sell it. Then it was transformed into a lively, clean area with good affordable restaurants and a historical trail. The EU funded part of that. It was fun to visit. But after that, the boom hit parts of Ireland, and the first million Euro apartments went in there. And it’s anyone’s guess why there is still no investment in an underground rail tunnel.
Rip off KIP.
We give out about bureacracy and the time it takes to get planning in ireland but maybe this saved dublin from turning into an eastern bloc city full of concrete. However the irish countryside has been pock marked with many ugly houses and warehouses that should have been built in industrial areas of towns and cities like most other countries.
The cheapest bus fare would have been a tenner, and late night fares would have cost fifteen euro.
Temple bar is just a large outdoor urinal and a vomit pit id have prefered a bus station
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