94,000 ESB AND NIE CUSTOMERS WITH NO POWER STILL TONIGHT AND COULD TAKE 3 DAYS TO REPAIR
Dentist David Gwyer was injured when a tree smashed through the roof of his car
Up to 67,000 ESB customers and 27,000 NIE customers are still with out power this tonight as storm Ali passed over Ireland and packed a punch with power not expected to be restored in some areas until tomorrow .
The worst affected areas are Cavan, Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Castlebar, Galway, Portlaoise, Dundalk, Mullingar and parts of north Co Dublin.
At one point at the height of the storm more than 180,000 customers were without power.
ESB Networks said it could take up to three days to restore power to all affected customers.
The damage is mainly attributable to fallen trees on overhead lines as a result of the high winds.Â
ESB Networks has urged the public not to approach fallen power lines and to report any damage to the electricity network by calling 1850 372 999.
Gusts of up to 143km/h hit Mace Head in Galway, while south to southwest winds hit speeds of over 80km/h.
At one stage, more than 250,000 homes and businesses were without power on both sides of the border as power lines toppled.
STORM ALI UPDATE: 8pm: We have restored power to 119K customers, 67K customers are still without power. Estimated restoration times on https://t.co/cwxXH3X4kM. We will work late into the night to restore supply before resuming at first light tomorrow. https://t.co/98bzds4OQZ pic.twitter.com/H3tuBFO9AK
— ESB Networks (@ESBNetworks) September 19, 2018
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Northern Ireland Electricity had restored power to 64,500 customers by 14:45 BST on Wednesday but about 27,000 homes and businesses are still without power in Northern Ireland.
The company said that about about 350 additional staff are working on broken power lines.
However, it said that damage to power lines had been extensive and that while emergency teams were "working as fast as they can" it did not expect all customers to have power restored by Wednesday evening.
"We are expecting that the majority of customers affected will have power restored tomorrow however some small, isolated pockets of customers are likely to be without power for longer," a spokesperson said.
The areas worst affected by power cuts in Northern Ireland are Omagh, Dungannon and Enniskillen.
We are currently dealing with over a thousand individual faults on our network and our crews are working as quickly as possible to deal with them but the damage is extensive. #StormAli pic.twitter.com/N0nQTvIogD
— NIE Networks (@NIElectricity) September 19, 2018
Dentist David Gwyer was injured when a tree smashed through the roof of his car
Several thousand homes across NI are now without electricity because of #StormAli. The wind in Derry has intensified in the past hour. The Foyle Bridge has been closed to all vehicles but there are no reports of serious interruption/damage at the moment. https://t.co/oucfE1nffm pic.twitter.com/cbgPy0IpRF
— Dean McLaughlin (@Dean_Journalist) September 19, 2018
Kenneth from the Donegal Weather Channel
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