The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
AS MANY as 3,700 properties in county Clare were without power in the early part of Wednesday following the ravages of Storm Barra.
The main affected areas were in the west of the county where almost 2,500 homes were without power in and around Miltown Malbay.
Most of the issues around Miltown have now been resolved. Crews from ESB Networks have been working hard to restore power and have been making good progress addressing faults in numerous areas. Problems persist however in Kilrush, Kilkee, Ennistymon and Ennis.
The damage is mainly attributable to fallen trees on overhead lines as a result of the high winds. Due to the pressure on resources, ESB Networks does not expect to be able to restore power to many areas until Wednesday evening at the earliest and Wednesday 10pm in Ennistymon and Kilrush.
Gale force winds associated with the storm, with gusts of over 130 km/h, caused extensive damage to the electricity network currently affecting more than 49,000 homes, farms and businesses nationwide. With the storm still crossing the country, more damage and interruptions to supply can be expected.
Customers without power can check for updates on when their fault is expected to be repaired at www.powercheck.ie
Meanwhile Irish Water has warned customers in Rockmount, Rineen, Glendine, Illaun, Tooreen, Knockbrack, Kilfarboy, Ballyvaskin and surrounding areas in Co. Clare that they may experience low water pressure and/or outages due to power outages that occurred during Storm Barra.
Duane O Brien, Irish Water, said, “Irish Water and Clare County Council understand the inconvenience caused and thank customers for their patience while we work to restore normal supply to impacted customers. Some of the power supply in the area has been restored so the water supply should start to return to customers from later day.”
For further updates please see the Irish Water website www.water.ie. Our customer care team is available to help 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries.
High winds meant a huge number of trees were blown down over the course of yesterday around the county affecting travel.
Council and fire service crews have been working to clear roads of fallen trees and associated debris.
Clare County Council’s advice is not to travel during the Red warning. The local authority said people should take care when approaching a fallen tree or debris on the road – there may be other hazards such as electric cables, or additional trees in danger of falling.
Following advice from the Department of Education, schools in Clare remain closed today, as does the campus of the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (TUS) in Ennis, Moylish and Clare Street Limerick.
Normal services have however resumed at Shannon Airport, following Storm Barra, with the airport expecting to operate its full flight schedule.
Commenting on conditions at the airport today a Shannon Airport spokesperson said: “Our first flight, a Ryanair service to Krakow, departed at 7.32 am this morning and we expect to operate a normal schedule today.
“Storm Barra brought severe gusts to the airport yesterday and the Ryanair Malaga service cancelled as a result, is now rescheduled to depart at 10.10am this morning.”
Flight information is available on the Shannon Airport website.
