TRANSPORT and services across Limerick remain disrupted this Monday (January 6), as Met Éireann have further extended weather warnings until Friday.
The national forecaster has extended a Status Yellow low temperature and ice warning for the whole of Ireland until Friday (January 10), while a new Status Yellow snow-ice warning has been issued for the entire country until tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12 noon.
Following flurries of snow, with some areas of Limerick getting up to two feet of snow across the weekend, many service providers have issued updates to the public.
Thousands of homes and businesses across Limerick are still without power as ESB crews work to restore electricity to homes and businesses countywide.
Power outages have been reported in Rathkeale, Patrickswell, Foynes, Churchtown, Abbeyfeale, Bruff, Cappamore and Garryspillane this morning, with many services expected to be resumed by 9pm this evening.
ESB reports that some areas may take a number of days to resume service, including parts of Abbeyfeale and Patrickswell, which are hoped to resume by Tuesday night.
Up to date information on power restoration can be found on powercheck.esbnetworks.ie.
Elsewhere, the HSE Mid West has warned of disruption to its services today as a result of the bad weather, stating that many appointments have been cancelled and advised patients to only travel to appointments if it is safe to do so.
“Patients should only attend their appointments if they have phoned ahead to confirm it is taking place and that it is safe for them to travel,” a spokesperson for the health service said.
“All cancelled appointments will be rescheduled over the coming days”, they added.
The health service advised that anyone who is sick to contact their GP, pharmacy, or GP out-of-hours service in the first instance, and encouraged people to “take extreme care as they go out and about to prevent slips, trips and falls”.
Meanwhile, An Post have warned that many postal deliveries across Limerick will also be impacted by the bad weather.
The postal service have warned that “as things stand currently, it will not be possible to make letter or parcel deliveries on the majority of postal routes in counties Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary and some parts of Wicklow”.
“Should conditions improve, deliveries will be attempted where it is safe to do so.”
Post offices across Limerick are also impacted, with many remaining closed today. Updates are being provided on anpost.ie.
Irish Rail have advised passengers that services on the Nenagh branch rail line remain suspended today due to weather conditions.
The Limerick to Ballybrophy via Nenagh route was suspended this Monday morning, with Irish Rail set to review the situation later this morning to determine if the service can operate this evening or not.
However passengers on all other routes serving Limerick have been advised that all other services are operating, but that they may be hit with minor delays.
The rail body have said that updates will be provided on irishrail.ie or on their X (formerly Twitter) page throughout the day.
Officials at Shannon Airport have said that the airport remains fully operational, however warned that some flights are operating with delays. There have been four diversions of flights to the airport across the past number of days on account of the adverse weather conditions so far.
“Our snow and ice team worked overnight to keep the runway and taxiways clear. The early morning US flights from Boston and New York arrived on schedule, but delays are expected to continue, with backlogs due to the temporary closures of some UK airports,” a spokeswoman said.
