Thousands Of Homes And Businesses In Clare Without Power As Storm Debi Batters The Country
Thousand of homes and businesses in Clare have been left without power following Storm Debi.
A status red alert was in place in Clare for a time overnight, but that has since been downgraded to an orange warning.
3,378 premises in Clare are without power this morning.
The highest number of those are in the South East Clare area, with 1,208 homes and businesses connected to the grid at Gillogue without power following outages overnight.
There are a further 801 without supply in the Tulla area, 1,093 in the Ennistymon area and 343 in Ennis.
The ESB says storm force winds have caused damaged to the electricity network and that all available resources have been deployed, with network crews responding to outages once it is safe to do so.
Power has already been restored to 1,292 premises in the Kilrush area who lost supply overnight.
Meanwhile, Schools and creches in Clare have been asked to remain closed until 10am.
The University of Limerick and Mary Immaculate College is expected to open as normal this morning following the easing of the red status warning, while the Technological University of the Shannon has cancelled teaching until 10am.
Bus Éireann says there will be no school transport services in Clare this morning, however, it adds that afternoon services will operate as normal, once local roads are safe to travel on.
A mid-level status orange weather alert remains in place for Clare until 10 o’clock this morning, with Met Éireann warning of damage to exposed and vulnerable structures, dangerous travel conditions and fallen trees or branches.
Met Éireann forecaster Matthew Martin says people need to take extra precautions over the next few hours:
Clare County Council crews reamined on standby overnight and have been responding to the effects of the storm.
A tree that blocked the old Ennis to Gort Road at Ballyline has been cleared by Clare County Fire Service in the past hour, while debris has been reported on many roads including the M18 motorway.
There are also currently reports of a fallen telegraph pole fallen on the main Doolin to Lisdoonvarna Road, about 1 km from the Fernhill Cross.
National Director of Fire and Emergency Management, Keith Leonard is advising motorists to slow down and take account of local conditions on their journey.
