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Clare People Urged To Remain Vigilant As Storm Weather Persists

Emergency services in Clare are urging people to remain vigilant as storm weather persists.

Clare escaped the worst of storm Isha, but a yellow weather warning for very strong and gusty winds remains in place until 7 o’clock tonight and Storm Jocelyn, the 10th storm of the season, is set to make landfall tomorrow afternoon.

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Clare County Fire and Rescue Service responded to over 50 call-outs throughout the county last night as Storm Isha left as trail of destruction in it’s wake.

Over 80% of incidents in this county involved fallen trees which became uprooted in winds of up to 109 kilometres per hour and subsequently scattering debris, blocking some roads.

A number of telegraph poles were also dislodged, mostly in the Keevagh area near Quin, leading to the R469 Ennis to Quin road closing for a time.

The northbound carriageway of the N18 from Cratloe to Bunratty also had to be shut, as scattered debris from trees and branches made the road virtually impassable.

A yellow weather warning for very strong and gusty winds remains in place for this county tonight and Clare Chief Fire Officer Adrian Kelly is urging the public to remain vigilant.

At the peak of Storm Isha, over 12,000 homes and businesses in Clare were without power, with areas in Liscannor, Miltown Malbay, Kilkee and Ennis the worst affected.

Although the ESB dealt with damage to a large number of conductors and fallen electricity poles last night, repair crews are continuing to work throughout the day and have already restored power to all but 1,000 customers across the county.

Small pockets of Kilkee, Miltown Malbay, O’Briensbridge, Tulla, Maghera and Whitegate are still disconnected and ESB’s Clare Area Manager predicts that power will be restored to the majority of those customers by 6pm tonight.

But with more storm weather ahead, Alan Hogan admits that some areas were power was stored could face outages again tonight.

Meanwhile, Storm Jocelyn is set to make landfall tomorrow afternoon.

More status yellow wind alerts will come into force from midday tomorrow – upgrading to status orange for Galway, Mayo and Donegal at 6pm.

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