Community hubs offering support as 74,000 still without power

There are about 74,000 customers still without power in Northern Ireland following the devastation caused to the electricity network by Storm Éowyn.

At its peak, Storm Éowyn brought winds of more than 90mph.

The Northern Ireland Secretary said specialist engineers have arrived from England to help with efforts to restore power.

Some of those without electricity and heating have turned to community hubs and leisure centres for support with things like hot showers, charging mobile phones, or a cup of tea or coffee.

Elinor Farquhar, who is in her 80s and lives in Dungannon, told BBC News NI that “just keeping warm” is the hardest part of being without power.

“I have circulation problems and hands and feet are difficult to keep warm but we do have the fire lit – that’s a great help,” she said, adding that she is fortunate that she has family who can provide help.

She said hearing tiles come off her roof while being in the dark was “very frightening”.

But she said she is keeping herself occupied by reading when it is daylight, going to church to keep warm, spending time with family, and having her dog Rory as a “good companion.”

At the storm’s height, nearly a million properties were without power across the UK and Ireland, while many road and rail links were blocked.

Power outages

The managing director of NIE Networks said power has now been restored to 211,000 properties.

Derek Hynes said: “We believe that it will be around 10 days by the time we complete the repairs needed to get power back to everyone.”

The Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) have warned people to take care when driving as many roads are still impassable following Storm Éowyn, with fallen trees, power lines and debris.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Hilary Benn, said the UK government will offer “every possible support” to the effort to repair damage.

Benn said ministers from a number of government departments are working with executive ministers.

“The scale of the damage wrought by this storm is deeply concerning, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those working hard to restore electricity, clear fallen trees and debris, and keep people safe,” he said.

“We are also examining how we can assist with other requests made by the Executive and Northern Ireland Electricity for equipment and personnel.”

Roisin Kelly from Charlemont told BBC News NI that she is trying to take the outage in her stride.

“There’s no point in panicking, but I’m just conscious that there are a few older people in our street, so I’ve just been checking on them,” Ms Kelly said.

“You don’t realise you rely on the electricity, so it’s just getting into some sort of routine until we get back on.”

She said she hopes there will be some kind of government assistance for those affected.

Amy Loughran from Ardboe has also been without power since Friday but said there are worse off than herself.

“It’s not so much a worry for myself; I’m worried about older people in the community,” she said.

“I work as a care assistant, and I was working this morning, and there are quite a few that are living in the cold, and the likes of my granny I’d be worried about.

“A lot of them are scared and worried about getting sick in the cold weather.”

Dr Sally Montgomery lives in Castlewellan, she said she hopes NIE are being “pessimistic” when they say it could take 10 days to restore power.

She said the lack of power will likely lead to large food waste.

“I’ve the contents of the freezer to say goodbye to,” she said.

“I’m hearing a lot of people in the town were stocking up food for winter, they’re going to lose all that food too.”

She added that the local community relief hubs have been fantastic, saying that “the community have really rallied around”.

“Unfortunately, our executive and political leaders are not facing up to the fact that we really need a very resilient electricity supply system; This is where our money needs to go. To decarbonise as a nation we need a very green electric grid, and it needs to be resilient for these storms.”

Douglas and Marbeth Leathem in Waringstown have been without power but do have a gas stove for hot water and heat.

However, the lack of electricity means that they have had to find a creative solution to the lack of lighting.

As well as the more traditional options, such as candles and head torches, the Leathems have brought their battery-powered Christmas lights back out of storage.

“Thankfully we can go to our daughter’s house for things we need; she made us a Sunday beef dinner today, so we could be worse off.” Mr Leathem said.

“Our next-door neighbours don’t have any water as their mains have been shut off, so I’ve been using my hose to give them water in buckets.

“We haven’t heard anything from NIE; there’s a tree blocking our road, and it’s fallen on top of power lines,” Mr Leathem added.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn has promised every possible support from the UK Government to the effort to repair damage done by Storm Éowyn.

Mr Benn said ministers from a number of UK Government departments, led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, were working to assist NI Executive ministers.

On Saturday afternoon, the Secretary of State joined a call between the Prime Minister and First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.

The Prime Minister paid tribute to the efforts of all those involved in the response to the storm and their tireless work in keeping people safe.

Speaking on Sunday afternoon, the Secretary of State said:

“The scale of the damage wrought by this storm is deeply concerning, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those working hard to restore electricity, clear fallen trees and debris and keep people safe.

“I am pleased that under mutual aid arrangements, specialist engineers from England are already in Northern Ireland to assist with the urgent effort to restore power to communities and more are on their way.

“We are also examining how we can assist with other requests made by the Executive and Northern Ireland Electricity for equipment and personnel.

In the Republic of Ireland, there are approximately 330,000 customers still without power, down from a peak of 768,000 as a result of Storm Éowyn.

ESB said they anticipate that the majority of customers will have power restored by Friday night, but the remaining customers will have power restored over the course of the following week.

Uisce Éireann said there are still 109,000 people without water and 126,000 at risk.

One man, Kacper Dudek, 20, died after a tree fell on his car in Raphoe, County Donegal, during the storm.

Thousands of customers in Scotland are also still without power.

‘Cold and frightened’

On Saturday evening, two teenagers had to be rescued from Slieve Donard in County Down as conditions there worsened.

The 14-year-old boys scaled the mountain earlier in the day when the weather had seemed reasonable, but after reaching the summit, they realised they couldn’t get back down.

They returned to the summit, where they took shelter and called for help.

A 16-strong team from Mourne Mountain Rescue responded.

Coordinator Alwynne Shannon told BBC News NI that the teens were “cold and frightened” when they were found, but that they had done the right thing by returning to the summit and calling for help.

She said it had become cold, dark, and extremely windy.

She urged anyone considering scaling the mountain to think twice when conditions are so bad.

“Coming down, no matter what way you come down off Donard, is difficult a lot of the time, but in the conditions last night it really was treacherous.”

Clogher Valley Councillor Mark Robinson, who is a farmer, said he feels “frustrated” and believes rural communities have been left behind.

He said he spoke to one farmer on Friday morning who had been up from the early hours of the morning to milk his cows before the electricity went off.

“I understand it’s difficult conditions for everybody, but I just feel we are harshly treated in the rural community,” he said.

“I just think we need to get more bodies on the ground and try to get issues resolved for rural communities as well as the towns,” he added.

Public transport

Train lines are reopening following “extensive damage” across the network.

Translink all rail routes have opened as normal, with the exception of the Portrush line which is being served by a replacement bus service.

Due to planned rail works, the cross border route to Dublin terminates at Drogheda with a bus replacement taking passengers the rest of the journey.

All bus services have resumed, with some diversions in place due to ongoing road closures and clearance work.

Emergency contacts

To report faults or emergencies you should contact:

• Northern Ireland Housing Executive: 03448 920 901

• Openreach: 08000 23 20 23

• Gas networks: 0800 002001

• Flooding Incident Line: 0300 2000 100