Storm Eunice: 130km/h gusts leave thousands without electricity or water

The southeast of the country has been badly hit by the gale force winds of Storm Eunice that reached speeds of over 130km/h in Co Cork on Thursday night and Friday morning, according to Met Éireann.

An “abrupt” return of high-force winds has been predicted by the forecasters for Friday morning, with the gusts expected to extend eastwards over the country.

#StormEunice has brought wind gusts of over 130km/h to parts of Cork this morning ???

Relatively calm in the east at present but winds will strengthen abruptly this morning with strong & gusty winds extending eastwards across Ireland ??

Here's the latest wind observations ?? pic.twitter.com/nHkijCIGAu

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) February 18, 2022

Warnings

Waterford had remained under status red wind warning until 11am on Friday.

All of Munster, as well as counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wexford, Wicklow and Galway had remained under a status orange wind warning until 11am Friday also.

#StormEunice #Kerry

Crews are beginning to clear fallen trees on many routes this morning

Please avoid unnecessary travel until the Status Orange warning is lifted at 11am

?? Report issues 066 7183588 pic.twitter.com/B9DDcd9b0C

— Kerry County Council - Comhairle Contae Chiarraí (@countykerry) February 18, 2022

A status yellow snow and ice warning is now in place for all counties until 10am Saturday and Met Éireann has advised motorists to be aware of hazardous driving conditions.

A status yellow wind warning has also been put in place for all counties effective until 6pm Friday. Gusts of up to 110km/h are to be expected along with heavy rain at times.

Disruptions

Some 80,000 homes, farms and businesses were left without power after trees were downed in Storm Eunice’s gale-force winds as of noon Friday, according to the ESB.

According to the ESB, west Co Cork and Co Kerry have been the worst affected, with parts of Wexford also experiencing significant outages.

Further damage to electricity supply lines is to be expected before the end of the day, the ESB has said.

The public has been asked by the ESB to report any damage to the electricity supply network by calling 1800 372 999.

The ESB has reminded the public to never, ever touch or approach fallen overhead lines as they can be “extremely dangerous”.

Roads and water

Parts of Co Waterford including Kill, Ballylaneen and surrounding areas have had water supplies disrupted, according to Irish Water, and it is expected that an uninterrupted supply will be resumed by 8pm on Friday.

Some areas of Co Cork have been similarly disrupted.

Roads have either been made impassable due to the presence of fallen trees or electricity lines in counties Kerry, Cork and Waterford, according to each respective county council.

The reopening of these roads will be subject to the possibility of safe conditions allowing the relevant authorities to carry out remedial works.