Thousands of homes still without power

Some homes and businesses to be without power until Tuesday.

Thousands of homes and businesses across the county are still without power as locals continue to count the cost of Storm Darragh.

Some homes and businesses in the west and east of the county are not expected to be reconnected to electricity until Tuesday at the earliest.

ESB crews have been working since the early hours to restore power, while local authorities and fire services have been working around the clock in a bid to clear roads blocked by downed trees and debris.

Trees fell on the Kingscourt to Bailieborough Road and on the Mullagh to Bailieborough Road, at Corlea in Arva, on the R201 Milltown Road, while the bridge to the rear of the Farnham Estate was blocked overnight.

Trees were also downed on the Cootehill Road out of Cavan Town near to Breifne College, at Deredis just off the N3 to Loreto Road, between Cavan Town and Ballyhaise near Gem Oils, on the R198 Cavan to Crossdoney Road, the N55 between Cavan and Ballinagh, and the N87 outside Ballyconnell.

These have all been cleared, but authorities are warning people to drive carefully and be aware of surface debris. The latest update is a tree has fallen blocking traffic at Cortubber. This too has now been cleared.

There are still houses without power.

Worst affected, and expected to be without power for days are those near Dowra (544 homes and businesses) where the restore time is put at 7pm on December 10, and several dozen more the same at Whitegate Cross on the Cavan-Meath border.

Others such as those in Swanlinbar; the Yellow Road out of Belturbet, Tullyinchin near Cavan Town, Tunneyduff, New Inns, Kilnaleck, Kildoragh, at Kingscourt don't expect to have power back until tomorrow (December 8).

The more than 200 customers in two areas in Ballyconnell are due to have power restored by 7pm tonight. The same in Killeshandra, Killygreagh, Drumkerril and Ardlougher; at Lough Dooley, Belturbet, at Derrycramph, Rathcorrick, at Corranure and Shankill Lower, Corlurgan, at Bailieborough and also Shercock are expected to have power restored by 7pm tonight.

Faults have been already restored in some areas, such as Bawnboy where 628 homes and businesses were left without power; at Creeney, Killeshandra (291), Mullagh (851), in Belturbet, at Greaghagibney, in Virginia, Kilmainhamwood, and at Kinnalun near Kingscourt.

The National Directorate for Fire & Emergency Management (NDFEM), Met Éireann and other stakeholders met earlier today to discuss the impact of Storm Darragh.

The NDFEM said there has been significant disruption to electricity supply throughout the country, even more so than the Storm Ophelia.

For more details and updates on power outages across the county visit HERE.

Information

The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme will be available to provide support to those living in properties directly affected by Storm Darragh.

The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme prevents hardship by providing income-tested financial support to people whose homes are damaged from flooding and severe weather events and who are unable to meet costs for essential needs, household items and structural repair.

In dealing with emergency events the department generally adopts a three-stage approach as follows:

Stage 1 provides emergency support payments for food, clothing and personal items in the immediate aftermath of the event

Stage 2 involves the replacement of white goods, basic furniture items and other essential household items

Stage 3 is to identify what longer term financial support is required, including plastering, dry-lining, relaying of floors, electrical re-wiring and painting

If any homeowner affected by severe weather needs to access these supports, our emergency Community Welfare Service contact details are available here: gov.ie - Customer Notices.