WIDESPREAD damage and disruption has been reported across Limerick city and county this Friday (January 24) as a result of Storm Éowyn, which saw a Status Red wind warning in place throughout the early part of the day by Met Éireann.
Recovery works are now well underway across Limerick, after a number of trees downed across roads made for impossible travelling conditions, including on the North Circular Road in the city centre, Beary’s Cross on the outskirts of the city, and in Corbally at the entrance to St Munchin’s College.
In the city centre, part of a roof blew down onto the street on Glentworth Street, with Council officials saying that tree clearing operations will cease at sundown.
In Kilmallock, Storm Éowyn tore a segment of roofing from the Fitzgerald Park GAA grounds.
Based on the current forecast, there are low temperatures expected in some areas tonight, with Limerick City and County Council saying that gritting of roads will be carried out, but that the extent to which the roads can be gritted will be reduced as a result of the impacts of Storm Éowyn.
Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann has said it is are working to restore water supplies to customers across the county.
Power supplies have been restored at a number of water treatment plants across the county, the utility said, but a number of areas remain without water this evening.
Areas that continue to be impacted include Abbeyfeale environs, Adare, Athea, Athlacca, Ballingarry, Ballyagran, Caherconlish, Carrigkerry, Clouncagh, Herbertstown, Jamestown, Glin, Hospital, Montpelier, Oola, Rathkeale, and Tobergal/Feonagh.
Duane O’Brien, operations manager with Uisce Éireann said that “this is an unprecedented storm event following which we are still assessing the full extent of the disruption to supplies”.
“We understand how disruptive unplanned outages are and we ask for the public’s continued patience and cooperation as crews work around the clock where it is safe to do so to restore supply to impacted areas.”
Urging people to conserve water over the weekend, Mr O’Brien said that overnight water restrictions may be required.
Thousands of homes and businesses across Limerick remain without power this evening, with ESB crews being deployed to restore supplies. It was reported as many as 70,000 were without power this morning.
In a statement, ESB Networks said it will “continue to closely monitor the storm impact on power supplies and all available resources including crews and partner contractors are now deployed where safe to do so, to assess the network and work to safely restore power as quickly as possible in challenging conditions”.
“From our experience of previous significant weather events and due to the severity of Storm Éowyn, we expect that power restoration will take a significant number of days and will take more than a week in the worst impacted areas,” they said.
Phone and broadband provider Eir said that is aware of significant disruptions, with 160,000 nationwide without connection. A spokesman said that “the full impact of this will only become clear after power is restored”.
Flights have resumed from Shannon Airport as of lunchtime today, after windspeeds of up to 137km/h were reported at the airport.
