Power Outages Persist for Under 500 Following Storm Darragh

NIE Networks continues efforts to reinstate electricity to approximately 500 customers in the aftermath of Storm Darragh. During the storm’s peak over the weekend, strong winds caused power loss for about 95,000 residences across Northern Ireland. On Monday, several community assistance centres commenced operations to support individuals still affected by power loss. These facilities were situated in Craigavon, Ballymena, Kilkeel, Ballymoney, Omagh, Dungannon, and Donaghadee. NIE Networks projected that the vast majority of customers would have their service reinstated by Monday evening. Contractors from Scotland were scheduled to reach Northern Ireland on Monday afternoon to aid in the restoration works. The Energy Networks Association, which represents energy networks throughout the UK, reported that by 21:00 GMT on Monday, approximately 38,000 customers had no electricity supply. In the Republic of Ireland, just under 30,000 homes and businesses continued to experience outages as of 12:30 local time on Monday. No further update was provided on Monday night. ESB Networks informed Irish media outlet RTÉ that some customers might lack power for “approximately a week” due to the extent and intensity of the damage in certain areas. Cormac Collins, its delivery manager, stated that Storm Darragh was “one of the most severe storms we have received in the last number of years.” He added that crews and contractors are “really into the difficult stage of the storm restoration now.” Mr Collins mentioned that crews would be working to repair faults “over the coming days and probably up to the end of the week.” Lisburn farmer Desi Houston has relied on a generator to maintain operations at his farm since Saturday. Mr Houston, who owns a farm on the Ballinderry Road, experienced a power outage over the weekend. He recounted seeing a “flash of light” when trees toppled onto an electrical pole shortly after 01:00 GMT on Saturday. He has been using a generator to keep his freezers, which are full of Christmas food, running and to provide lights for feeding the cattle. Stena Line and Irish Ferries discontinued multiple ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead on Monday and Tuesday. A representative for Holyhead port stated that on Saturday morning during Storm Darragh, “an incident occurred at Holyhead Port causing damage to port infrastructure.” The spokesperson added, “As a result, Holyhead Port is currently closed to marine traffic and, at this time, it is expected that the port will remain closed until 18:00 Tuesday at the earliest, while a thorough assessment is conducted.” Speaking to BBC News NI, Ger Hyland, President of the Irish Road Haulage Association, indicated that companies were compelled to “twist and turn to make it work” amidst weather-related delays. He further commented, “Issues like these tend to leave us three to four days behind, we end up having to play catch up.” In Northern Ireland, certain road sections also remained inaccessible on Monday evening owing to downed trees and power lines. Six Irish Premiership football matches were called off on Saturday as a result of the storm. Northern Ireland Football League chief executive Gerard Lawlor issued an apology to supporters regarding the late notifications. Mr Lawlor informed Good Morning Ulster: “If people are out of pocket as supporters clubs, we will look as seeing can we help in some way as a gesture of goodwill.” Communities Minister Gordon Lyons stated on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme on Monday: “The frustration comes from the fact that many people felt with the weather the way it was, there was an inevitability to all this happening and it could have been done earlier.” He added, “It’s especially important that there was a recognition that there was a financial cost to fans and to clubs.”