THAT WAS ISHA... NOW FOR JOCELYN
Three die on roads during bad weather as a fresh warning is issued ahead of second blast
IRELAND is braced for a fresh blast of dangerous weather just a day after Storm Isha caused havoc across the country.
Three people died in separate road accidents across the island during the course of the storm, and thousands were left without electricity.
Today Storm Jocelyn arrives, with Met Éireann placing three counties – Donegal, Galway and Mayo – under status orange wind warnings from 6pm this evening.
The ESB warned that it could take several days for everyone’s electricity to be restored, as it deployed helicopters to asses the damage caused to its network.
As of 9pm last night, approximately 68,000 homes, farms and businesses remained without power, the ESB said.
Two people died in road crashes when weather warnings were in place, but gardaí have not said whether the storm conditions were the main contributory factor in those crashes.
A third person was killed in a road accident in the North.
On Sunday at around 6.15pm while a status red weather warning was in place, a man in his 40s died in a single-vehicle crash in Claremorris, Co. Mayo.
He was named locally as Jimmy Rowe, from Tuam, Co. Galway. He had been travelling home at the time of the crash.
Early yesterday morning, at around 1.50am a woman in her 20s, who was a passenger in a van, died after the vehicle hit a tree in Carnalogue, Co. Louth.
Meanwhile, a man in his 60s was killed in the North in a crash involving two vans and a fallen tree at the height of Storm Isha.
The crash happened in Limavady, Co. Derry on Sunday as high winds battered the island of Ireland.
The man who died was driving a van that hit the fallen tree and another van on the Broad Road at around 9.45pm. The male driver of the second vehicle was taken to hospital for treatment.
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough councillor Ashleen Schenning said the local community was in shock after the crash in Limavady.
‘This has devastated the town,’ said the SDLP representative.
‘To wake up to this news this morning – it has just left the town in shock and devastation.’
Storm Isha caused significant travel disruption and left tens of thousands of homes without power. As the clean-up began yesterday and repairs were made to power lines, further weather alerts were issued ahead of Storm Jocelyn’s arrival today, which forecasters warned could cause further damage to already weakened structures.
The ESB in Ireland said 155,000 homes and businesses remained without power by lunchtime yesterday, down from 230,000 at its peak, with the worst-hit areas in the north west.
Northern Ireland Electricity Networks said the impact was ‘severe and widespread’ with around 17,000 customer still without power yesterday afternoon, with 53,000 hit by outages at the height of the storm.
Authorities across the island reported fallen trees on roads and urged people not to try to move them as there may be electricity lines tangled within.
Dublin Airport said winds had eased and flights on Monday continued ‘without restrictions’, but because of delays caused by Storm Isha, 29 flights in and out of Dublin had been cancelled yesterday.
There was disruption for hundreds of passengers due to land at airports on the island on Sunday, with several flights that were unable to touch down being rerouted to Great Britain and even continental Europe.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) of Ireland advised all road users to be aware of the dangers after the storm passed as there may be hazardous conditions such as flooded roads and downed pylons, lines, trees and other debris on roads.
A woman from Co. Down said the storm had brought ‘the worst damage we’ve seen in this area’ after a row of five trees were felled in front of her house.
Lisa Wilton, 47, posted a video of the fallen trees on X, formerly Twitter, showing the large trunks spanning the width of her driveway where they had uprooted and toppled over.
Today Storm Jocelyn will bring further risk of large waves along coastal areas, difficult travelling conditions, fallen trees, damage to power lines, and possible damage to already weakened structures.
Met Eireann status orange warnings will be in place today from 6pm until midnight for Galway and Mayo, and from 6pm until 2am on Wednesday for Donegal.
Status yellow warnings are in place for all other counties from this afternoon until the early hours of tomorrow.
In the North, yellow wind warnings will be in place for counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Derry.