Storm Amy: Restoration of power could take until early next week

Tens of thousands of properties were still without power as a clean-up got under way across the island of Ireland on Saturday after Storm Amy struck.

Gardaí reported that a man died during the storm, which also brought localised flooding, fallen trees, transport disruption and school closures.

Donegal was under a Red weather warning between 4pm and 6pm on Friday.

An Garda Síochána said they were treating an incident where a man was seriously injured in the Letterkenny area of the county, shortly after 4.15pm, as weather-related.

Gardaí later said he had died and his body was removed to the morgue at Letterkenny University Hospital, where a post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course.

The ESB and NIE Networks said that there were hundreds of thousands without power across the island at the height of the storm’s impact.

That number had fallen significantly by midday on Saturday, with 49,000 without power in the Republic of Ireland.

NIE Networks said 22,000 were without power at 8am.

Crews for both organisations warned it could take days before power is restored to every customer.

An ESB spokesman said the worst affected areas were in counties Donegal, Leitrim, Roscommon, Galway and Mayo.

“We expect to continue to make significant progress and believe that the majority of customers who do not have their supply restored today will have power restored by tomorrow night.

“However, some customers in the worst affected areas may be without power into the early part of next week.

“This is likely to include some customers in Donegal, which saw the highest wind speeds recorded during Storm Amy, and in areas across the north-west.”

NIE Networks urged the public to stay clear of any power lines or damaged electricity equipment and report sightings immediately.

At its peak, Storm Amy caused a loss of supply to approximately 65,000 customers across Northern Ireland.

As of 8.30am, 22,000 properties remained without power in the region.

Alex Houston, NIE Networks operations manager, said: “This is still an evolving picture, given the ongoing yellow alert, however we anticipate it may take a number of days before the restoration process fully concludes based on similar events such as Storm Darragh.”

Storm Amy brought gusts of up to 148km/h and sustained winds of 94km/h in the most exposed coastal areas.

Travel disruption also continued at Dublin Airport on Saturday morning, with multiple flights either delayed or cancelled.

Storm Amy is moving away from Ireland, but airlines were still battling with the backlog.

Passengers have been urged to plan extra time and check their schedules before heading to the airport this afternoon.

The disruption comes after widespread cancellations on Friday, when thousands of travellers were affected by Storm Amy.

Meanwhile, in Cork, a KLM service to and from Amsterdam was cancelled on Saturday due to adverse weather across Europe.

Passengers have been advised to stay updated with their airline providers.

On Saturday, a status orange wind warning was put in place for Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo between 4am and 8am.

A yellow-level warning for wind and rain in those counties expired at midday.

Also expired at midday were separate yellow-level wind warnings for Dublin, Louth and Wicklow, as well as Clare, Kerry, Galway and Mayo.

In Northern Ireland, a yellow-level rain warning for the entire region, which came into effect on Friday, lapsed at midday on Saturday.

This is followed by the expiration of a yellow-wind warning for all Northern Ireland counties at midnight.

The PSNI continued to urge caution as the storm recovery phase got under way.

A spokesperson said: “Storm Amy clean-up operations will be intensifying this morning as multiple agencies work to restore the power, water and transport networks for all users across Northern Ireland.”

The PSNI said ongoing warnings may lead to further disruption and complicate restoration efforts.

“We are particularly urging road users to exercise extra care and attention when driving.

“Surface water, flooding, fallen debris or temporary restrictions are all a strong possibility.”

Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather told Newstalk the storm should begin to clear throughout the day.

"That heavy rain and strong winds this morning will clear, but some heavy falls of rain, especially in northern areas, this morning, with over 30 millimetres possible, but as we go through the morning to the afternoon, then we will see an improvement. The winds will slowly ease, and the rain will go back to being showers with good sunny spells developing," he said.

Bryan Cannon from Donegal County Council gave Newstalk this warning for drivers in the county after the storm.

"There will be likely to be large amounts of debris on the roads, some roads may still remain blocked this morning following the orange and red phases of Storm Amy yesterday evening. I’d just advise the public to be very cautious when travelling," he said.