Storm Hector makes his mark... but the calm is back

STORM Hector wiped out power to almost 150,000 homes, farms, and businesses nationwide – but the majority have had their electricity restored by the ESB.

The damage was caused by fallen trees on overhead lines as result of the high winds, with counties including Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan being the worst affected.

As of yesterday evening, there were 5,000 homes, farms and businesses still without power as ESB crews continued their work.

According to a spokesman for ESB, the remaining properties are along low voltage lines that serve a small number of houses, which makes restoring power more difficult. However, the spokesman reiterated that the crews will be working into this evening to restore power to the remaining houses.

In the next few days after Storm Hector, the weather is expected to be calmer, but it will remain a bit of a mixed bag.

Overnight, there will be some heavy rain in the north and west, but it should clear as it moves across the country in time for tomorrow morning.

According to Met Éireann, it will be a bit cloudier tomorrow with a few showers in the north and west of the country.

‘For Saturday afternoon, there will be showers and a few of them could be heavy and thundery again. Ulster is looking most at risk there from the thundery downpours. It will be breezy enough with fresh westerly wind,’ a forecaster said.

‘Saturday night looks to be mainly dry in the east but again rain is going to develop in the west and move eastwards.’

Sunday will mostly be dry and bright with some rain in the afternoon. The pollen count, which has been very high in recent weeks, is set to be a bit more moderate in the coming days owing to the declining temperatures.