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Thousands still without Water, Power, Telephones

Irish Water has said that 109,000 customers were without water supply at its peak yesterday It also said that it is working with the ESB to restore the supply.  

The National Emergency Coordination Group (NECG) said huge progress was made yesterday as a massive clear up got underway.

At a briefing in Dublin last night, the NECG said public transport was practically in full operation yesterday except for the Luas in Dublin, which resumed at 9.30pm last night.

Electricity power failures are resulting in a number of wastewater treatment plants and a significant number of sewage pumping stations discharging untreated or partially treated wastewater into lakes, rivers, estuaries and the sea.

It says the situation is being monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency.

More than 100,000 customers are relying on supply from reservoirs, and may be without supply if these run low.

Irish Water Managing Director Jerry Grant said it has reduced the number of customers who were at risk of losing water by 260,000.

There had been earlier warnings that as many as 300,000 homes would lose supply because pumps and treatment works are stalled by the power cuts.

He said the worst affected areas were from Wexford to Skibbereen in west Cork, including Wexford town, Enniscorthy, New Ross, Castlecomer, Bennetsbridge, Cobh, Youghal and Fermoy, with difficulties also in Bandon.

The provider said they are co-ordinating up to 30 water tankers to the affected areas and are working with local authorities to ensure more are available if needed.

The ESB has said that 137,000 customers remain without power, with the worst-affected areas in the south and southwest of the country.

Northwest

At the peak of yesterday's storm, the numbers affected peaked at 385,000, but 248,000 have now had their power restored.

They said they are hopeful that most customers in the northwest would have their power restored by last night, while they say significant progress is being made in counties Kerry, Laois, Galway, Clare and Westmeath.

Priority is being given to the restoration of supplies for water and communications services.

Eir said the storm had delivered unprecedented and widespread levels of damage to its infrastructure, including damage to poles and cables.

The company said it expects the numbers of customers without service will continue to fluctuate today.

"Some services will return as power supply issues are resolved. However, we do expect the number of individual fault reports to rise today and over the coming days," the company said in a statement.
 
Earlier, Eir had warned the number of people without a phone service may rise significantly throughout the day as back-up batteries that had been supporting services in some exchanges and mobile sites ran out of power.

Numbers will change as progress continues today.....