Almost 400,000 lost power during Storm Darragh

Almost 400,000 homes, farms and businesses lost power during Storm Darragh, the ESB has said, with 30,000 homes left without power on Monday, December 9.

The storm caused "widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure across the country" the national electricity supplier said, noting that the impact was "similar to that of Storm Ophelia in 2017".

ESB Networks Regional Manager Brian Tapley said that their crews have been mobilized around the country in an interview with Newstalk. Crews from France's Enidis energy supplier are also en route to Ireland by boat to aid with the efforts to restore power to all parts of the country.

“Unfortunately, some customers will be out for a number of days and the last customers could take up to a week given the scale of the damage that the storm caused,” said Mr Tapley.

It could, the ESB warned, take a number of days to restore power to some areas of the country, due to the scale of the damage done to key electricity infrastructure; "Significant numbers will be without supply for a number of days. Due to the severity and significant scale of the damage some customers could be without power for approximately a week."

Speaking at the time, Mr Tapley said that there are still around 35,000 customers without power but that power is being incrementally restored across the country.

“This storm is probably at the same scale as Storm Ophelia from 2017, the only difference is it’s hit the entire country," he said. 

"We have all our crews deployed around the country, our French counterparts Enedis are arriving today to support the efforts as well.”

Various locations across Waterford have been impacted by the storm, the ESB is currently working on faults in Knockmullen, Kilmacthomas, Kilcarragh and a number of outages on the Cregg Road.

The ESB has warned the public not to touch or approach any fallen wires or damaged electricity networks "as they are LIVE and extremely dangerous". 

The contact number to report any damage to electricity infrastructure is 1800 372 999.