Battered but not beaten...
Ireland battling Storm Brian
STORM Brian battered Ireland yesterday with torrential rain bringing flooding to several areas.
The West and South were worst hit – the regions that also took the brunt of Hurricane Ophelia last Monday.
Winds reaching 80mph blasted Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway and Mayo.
Limerick city was affected by flooding after the River Shannon overflowed.
On the New Road in Kileely, swans swam around between cars and homes as residents fed them.
Many popular tourist locations such as the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare, were closed to the public due to the weather warnings.
Racing at the Fairyhouse track in Co Meath was also postponed.
The storm hit Kildare before 11am making driving dangerous in places. However, in Dublin there was no significant impact on flights at the city’s airport. Speed restrictions were in place on railways across the country with delays on some routes. In Galway city, temporary flood defences erected close to the Spanish Arch landmark proved effective, though the waters came close to reaching some properties. Surface water on roads in Cork made driving hazardous while conditions were said to be treacherous on the Bailick Road in Midleton. The Ballyderown to Ballyduff Road was closed in Kilworth. And in Co Kilkenny, the Bleach road and surrounding area were also underwater. The Chair of the National Emergency Coordination Group, Sean Hogan, said yesterday: “We are certainly having the wet and windy weekend which was forecast. There are still both Orange and Yellow wind warnings in place from Met Eireann. “The rainfall is not finished but the extent of damage, flooding and disruption has been limited and in line with expectations for this type of Atlantic storm. “Local authorities have been dealing principally with spot flooding on local roads and some regional roads. While local Severe Weather Assessment Teams will continue to monitor the situation in those areas identified as being subject to the worst conditions by Storm Brian, essentially, local authorities are now dealing with issues through normal emergency response arrangements.”
Mr Hogan said some ferries were cancelled and patrols were out all day on the motorways.
Fallen trees and localised flooding caused havoc in Co Waterford. In Kerry the local council dealt with rising water in parts of the county. Mr Hogan said
ESB Networks crews restored power to a further 8,000 homes, farms and businesses, bringing total reconnected to 356,000 customers.
He added: “Work to restore the remaining 22,000 customers is taking place in difficult conditions, with crews working field by field, tree by tree and pole by pole to connect those still without supply, with Wexford and Cork remaining the worst affected counties.”
The ESB received back-up from the Army and from French and the North’s power crews. Mr Hogan said: “Storm Brian hampered the restoration effort in many areas with high winds and driving rain affecting progress.
“There are some new faults arising from Storm Brian, currently these are small in number and the total number without power remains at 22,000.”
Crews were expected to be stood down last night if conditions deteriorated further in affected areas.
The ESB also warned people not to approach fallen power lines and to report any outages to 1850 372 999.
As electricity supplies are reconnected, the 2,300 people still without public water supplies on 27 small schemes will be restored as will those with their own wells.
Water has been restored to 106,700 customers, down from the peak of 109,000. County council staff in the Midlands cleared fallen trees and dealt with minor flooding incidents on local roads as the storm passed through in the morning. High winds brought down a number of trees on the Shinrone to Cloughjordan road but it later re-opened. A number of people had to rescued from sailing boats in Dun Laoghaire harbour yesterday afternoon. It happened at midday when the sailing vessels were caught up in strong winds and thrown against the east pier. All sailors were rescued safely by their own support vessels and some boats had to be abandoned. A Status Orange wind warning remained in place in a number of Atlantic coastal counties until 10pm. More rain is expected today and a Yellow warning for wind is in effect.
Work to restore the remaining 22,000 customers is taking place in difficult conditions SEAN HOGAN EMERGENCY GROUP CHIEF YESTERDAY
ONCE again we had to batten down the hatches as the country was battered by the elements.
This time it was the turn of Storm Brian to bring chaos as gusts of up to 80mph swept in to parts of the country while torrential rain led to flooding.
Homes were underwater in Limerick while swans glided around the waterlogged streets.
Thankfully Brian did not have the same devastating effect as ex-hurricane Ophelia.
That said, it still brought dangers and one wonders about those who put themselves at risk like the sailors in Dun Laoghaire harbour who had to be rescued yesterday.
The emergency teams have enough to contend with without incidents like this. Warnings were given for days yet some people ignored them to take to the sea.
In all of this we must not forget the amazing work done all week by repair crews.
Brave ESB workers battled the elements to restore power to hundreds of thousands who had been left in the dark.
Gardai fought through the wind and rain to attend accidents, and so too did firefighters and paramedics.
The Army too deserve praise for rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck into the cleanup operation.
Met Eireann were on the ball from the word go and kept us updated throughout.
As we slept in our beds they were braving howling winds and rain to keep the country running.