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Eleanor storm causes power cuts across Sligo

The county was also upgraded late last night to warn of damaging wind gusts inland into Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile last night’s fury saw five thousand homes in south and west of the county worst hit by power cuts.

Last night, other counties saw major damage caused by spot flooding and high tides. 

There were lightning strikes reported in the Cork and Kerry areas.

Violent Gusts

In Sligo, fallen trees caused by violent wind gusts took power lines down in several towns and villages while ESB transmitter faults were also logged.

Areas affected in Sligo included Collooney, Ballymote, Gurteen, Bunninadden, Tubbercurry and Enniscrone.

Over 5,100 ESB customers across Sligo were without power shortly before 9pm last night.

Nationwide, ESB Networks confirmed 55,000 homes were without power at that time.

Many power line repairs were completed by ESB crews before midnight in the Sligo area.

However, some major-scale repairs, including Enniscrone and Tubbercurry area faults, might not be completed until late this morning, Wednesday.

Local councillor Gerry Lundy spoke on independent national radio last night about the widespread impact of ‘Eleanor,’ particularly around Gurteen and Tubbercurry.

ESB Networks identified online some of the major Sligo outages last night as follows:-

Tubbercurry area (a) 1,427 homes

Tubbercurry area (b) 1,169 homes 

Enniscrone area          1,614 homes;

Gurteen area                   782 homes;

Ballymote area                  83 homes

Bunninadden area            25 homes

Collooney area                   12 homes.

Across the constituency there were also power cuts around Manorhamilton, Boyle, Arigna and Carrigallen.

An estimated one thousand households alone were left without power in areas centered on Arigna.

Although gale winds abated early this morning in Sligo as ‘Eleanor’ moved to Scotland and the North Sea, Met Éireann still warned of local weather perils.

In particular, they appealed to people to stay away from western coastal areas today, Wednesday.

Ireland has been hit by two major storms in the past 72 hours — Dylan and Eleanor.

Another band of wet and windy weather is expected in the next 24 hours, Met Eireann warns.

Met is predicting cold and frosty conditions to hit Ireland this weekend.

Officially, Met upgraded Sligo at 10pm last night (Tuesday) to Status Orange, its highest category wind warning.

                            Link:http://www.strandhillsurfschool.com/surf_forecast

Sligo will stay in the Status Orange category until 2pm Wednesday afternoon.

ESB Networks identified power cuts up to 9pm last night in counties which included Mayo, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan and Monaghan.

Sligo County Council advised late last night;

Strong winds have resulted in fallen trees throughout the county with a number of roads blocked. Water levels are also rising very quickly with low lying and coastal roads in particular danger. Gibraltar Road Sligo flooded, a Bus Eireann Bus evacuated and road closed. Mardyke, Cartron now passable

Sligo County Council Roads and Fire Services crews have been deployed around the county removing fallen trees and telegraph poles, closing roads and arranging diversions.

Details:

   Gurteen to Ballaghadereen blocked 2 miles from Gurteen
    Fallen trees on Culfadda to Keash Rd, road blocked
    Fallen tree at Carn School, Gurteen
    Fallen tree Lisrush-Culfadda Rd, road blocked
    Fallen trees and cables on L4303 Buninnadden to Quarryfield crossroads
    Monasteraden to Cloonloo road blocked
    Road CR 632A blocked at Annaghowan Riverstown
    Templehouse to five-cross roads blocked

Updates from the ESB’s powercheck website here: https://www.esb.ie/esb-networks/powercheck/

Sligo County Council website: http://www.sligococo.ie/Emergency/