Thousands in Kildare still without power and water
A cypress tree in the Old Cemetery in Athy which was uprooted by Storm Éowyn Photo: Michael O'Rourke
THOUSANDS of homes across Kildare are without power and water as a result of Storm Éowyn that battered the whole of Ireland over the weekend. The storm, which brought gale-force winds and severe gusts of up to 130kph, caused widespread damage throughout the county, with significant damage to power lines, telecommunications and trees.
Kildare County Council’s crisis management team met yesterday morning (Monday) to review the ongoing issues caused by the storm. The council’s outdoor staff and parks teams worked across the weekend to clear fallen trees on priority routes.
While much of this work is now complete, there are still tress down is housing estates and on some minor roads. The teams will continue to work on this throughout the week.
Notably affected areas were Naas, Newbridge, Kilcock, Two Mile House, Athy, Nurney, Crookstown, Timahoe, Kildare town, Monasterevin and Rathcoffey.
Many houses, particularly in the northwest of the county, remain without power and water, with areas around Clogherinkoe and Clonuff badly affected. Clogherinkoe GAA Club opened yesterday evening at 7pm to provide residents with a place to charge phones, get hot drinks and avail of shower facilities.
Many other communities across Kildare hunkered down together at the weekend with pubs, restaurants and hotels providing refuge and a place to charge your phone.
The popular wedding venue, Barberstown Castle, opened its doors on Friday to the community of Straffan offering use of its generator.
The record-breaking Storm Éowyn, which was given a status red alert for the entire country, blew through Ireland last Friday with most damage taking place between 6am and 12 noon that day. 768,000 houses lost power, and as of 12 noon that day ESB had restored power to 438,000 homes, farms and businesses, with 330,000 customers remaining without electricity.
ESB Networks reported that 100,000 of those are expected to remain in the dark until early February.
In addition, the storm left around 109,000 households without water and 94,000 homes and businesses without broadband on Sunday.
