Thousands still without power after Storm Bram

Thousands of homes, farms and businesses across the island of Ireland remained without power on Wednesday morning as a result of Storm Bram.

All of the Republic fell under an orange wind warning for a time on Tuesday, while all of Northern Ireland was under a yellow advisory – with large parts also under an amber advisory.

On Wednesday, there were no inland advisories but a status yellow gale warning applied from Mizen Head through Slyne Head to Fair Head, with a small craft warning along all coasts until Thursday.

At its strongest, Storm Bram brought gusts of up to 119kmh (74mph) amid general wind speeds of up to 78kmh (48.5mph) at the weather station at Sherkin Island at lunchtime on Tuesday.

After a week of persistent rain, Irish forecasting agency Met Eireann said soils across the country were already highly saturated and many rivers were approaching bank-full conditions, so additional rainfall resulted in surface and river flooding in parts.

The strong winds knocked trees and led to travel disruption on roads, rail and airports.

On Wednesday, Dublin Airport said operations were “largely back to normal” after more than 90 flights were cancelled due to the storm.

ESB Networks confirmed that at 4pm approximately 54,000 properties were without power at one stage during the storm, but the number had been reduced to 7,000 by 7am on Wednesday.

A spokesman said: “We acknowledge the disruption to family and commercial life this causes and thank impacted customers for their patience as our crews continue to work to safely restore power.” 

Thousands more properties had been without power during the height of Storm Bram in Northern Ireland, with several roads also experiencing flooding.