Almost 400,000 customers were left without power in Ireland after the country was battered by Storm Darragh.
Parts of Ireland came under red weather warnings for wind overnight while an orange warning was due to expire at 10am. A status yellow warning is to remain in place until 3pm.
Major disruption has been caused to travel with some scheduled flights at Dublin Airport cancelled, while there have been a number of delays and cancellations to bus and train services.
Storm Darragh will continue to bring very windy conditions🍃 before easing later this afternoon.
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) December 7, 2024
Rain🌧️ will clear from the NW & E this afternoon with scattered showers following for the rest of the day, mainly over the W🌦️.
Highest temperatures🌡️ of 6 to 9 degrees. pic.twitter.com/4r3NVFrYHy
ESB Networks said as of 7am, approximately 395,000 homes, farms and businesses across the country were without power as a result of the storm.
That number had dropped to 325,000 customers by 11.30am but full restoration is expected to take several days.
Taoiseach Simon Harris thanked the crews for their work to restore power.
In a post on X, Mr Harris said: “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.”
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
An ESB Networks spokesperson said Storm Darragh is similar in impact to Storm Ophelia in 2017, which left 385,000 customers without power at the peak but was more widespread across Ireland.
“The impact is nationwide and there has been extensive damage to electricity infrastructure so far,” they said.
“With Met Eireann wind warnings remaining in place for the entire country until this afternoon, further power outages can be expected from potentially damaging gusts.
“ESB Networks crews and partner contractors have been deployed since early morning to assess the damage of Storm Darragh, make the network safe and restore electricity supply in challenging conditions.
From our experience of previous significant weather events and due to the severity of Storm Darragh, we expect that power restoration will take multiple days
“All ESB Networks teams are mobilised and are continuing to closely monitor the storm impact on power supplies.
“From our experience of previous significant weather events and due to the severity of Storm Darragh, we expect that power restoration will take multiple days.
“Significant numbers of impacted customers will have their power restored throughout today but restoration efforts will take a number of days and it is likely that the areas worst-affected will take longer.
“Given the scale of the damage and the dynamic nature of the event, we will be working to confirm restoration times for customers throughout the day and we will update PowerCheck.ie as information is confirmed.”
