Thousands in Mayo still without power: Storm Éowyn wreaks havoc

Tens of thousands of ESB customers in Co Mayo remain without electricity following Storm Éowyn – and for some, the power not expected to return for another week.

The county has been counting the cost of the devastation that Storm Éowyn left in its wake after it tore through the county early on Friday morning. The warning of record wind speeds came to pass, with the Met Éireann weather station in Blacksod recording a top wind speed of 137km/h at around 5am on Friday morning. 

As of Monday afternoon, the ESB confirmed that as many as 40,000 Mayo customers were still without a power supply.
“All available crews in our Ballina and Castlebar depots, as well as contracting partners, are now deployed across the county restoring power. Per our national press release, there will be some customers in Mayo who won’t have their power restored until the following week, [with] Wednesday, February 5, being the longest Estimated Restore Time,” an ESB spokesperson confirmed to The Mayo News.

The main areas in Mayo where customers are still waiting for their power to be restored include Swinford, where 4,700 customers are without power; Westport, with 4,000 customers without power; Ballinrobe, with 2,600; Charlestown, with 2,500; Achill, with 2,000; and Cong, with 2,100.

The absence of electricity has also resulted in a number of communities being left without a water supply, as treatment stations without power ground to a halt. The absence of generators at a number of treatment plants meant that many could not function for a number of days. This caused reservoirs to empty, leaving thousands of households and businesses throughout Mayo without water.

READ: STORM ÉOWYN: Where to find help in Mayo if you are without power or water

Blaming trees
The near hurricane-force winds that ripped through Mayo caused a large number of trees to fall, with some hitting electricity lines and further delaying the restoration of power to communities.

The matter was raised at the monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District, which was held yesterday afternoon.

During the meeting, councillors praised the work of ESB crews for trying to restore power and council workers for cleaning up the debris following the storm.

However, Independent councillor John O’Malley said that trees were the main reason that people were going without power, and he called for all trees within 20 metres of power and other service lines to be felled.

“The trees have to come down. I want to see trees removed as fast as possible, and this is the time to do it,” he said.

“Take the trees out to the root along the whole line of the ESB and service lines. Anyone planting trees should not be allowed to plant trees within 20 metres of any service lines, and all the hedges and bushes along the roads should be taken out because they cause mayhem during storms.

There is no need for them along the road and there are plenty of [other] places if people want to plant trees. They have to go now because this has caused mayhem and aggravation to people.

“People have suffered because of trees that came down, and we have to make sure that everything is cleared of trees along the road and along lines and get rid of those trees totally. Nobody should be allowed to plant trees along power lines or service lines. Our answer is no trees along the road and power lines and then we will start to solve this problem,” Cllr O’Malley told the meeting.

He was backed up by a number of his council colleagues, who agreed that action needs to be taken and plans put in place before the next storm.

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Communications criticised
Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn criticised the lack of communication from the executive of Mayo County Council about the emergency, while Fianna Fáil councillor Brendan Mulroy was also critical of the fact that businesses were not informed that water levels were low before the supply eventually went dry.

On Monday, Mayo County Council set up a dedicated Emergency Response Hub to deal with the fallout of Storm Éowyn. The objective of the hub is to direct people to assistance with basic needs, such as water, hot food, phone charging, broadband access, showers, clothing and washing facilities.

A multi-agency meeting also took place, in order to continue planning ways of assisting the public and communities over the coming days and weeks. Sporting clubs and community organisations that are currently offering assistance to the public, or that wish to assist, have been asked to contact the Emergency Response Hub to register with the local authority.

Doomed dome
One of the biggest casualties of the storm was the Connacht GAA Air Dome at the Centre of Excellence in Bekan, which was completely destroyed when the canvas covering the pitch was ripped to pieces. The Air Dome, which is the largest of its kind in the world, was built at a cost of €3.1 million and opened in January 2022.

Connacht GAA CEO John Prenty said that Connacht GAA officials left the facility at 2.30am on Friday morning, and by 4.15am, the wind had destroyed it.

“I suppose the good thing about that is that we were gone when it [collapsed] because we’d have been found today dead, simple as that. We’d have had no way of getting out, we’d have been killed stone dead,” Prenty said afterwards, adding: “Thankfully we’re alive to tell the tale. We’ll get another dome.”

Prenty continued: “I never saw a storm like this. Even at home last night it was frightening. It’s a big blow but we’ll rise again. When we opened this place in July 2020 nobody believed even five hours before it went up that it would happen. But it did happen, and it will happen again.”

Burrishoole GAA Club were also counting the cost of Storm Éowyn at their home ground in Newport, where their stand which was erected in 2010 was extensively damaged.

A huge number of buildings across the county suffered structural damage. Among them was Tesco supermarket in Swinford, which had to close after damage was caused to its roof.

An Garda Siochana reported up to 17 road traffic accidents caused by debris on roads from Storm Éowyn, but fortunately no one was seriously hurt.

Political fallout
There has also been political fallout from Storm Éowyn, with local politicians demanding that financial support be made available to those affected by the storm.

Mayo Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon has called on the Government to urgently open a grant scheme to support farmers whose buildings and equipment have been severely damaged, saying they need help to rebuild where necessary and replace their damaged assets.

“Storm Éowyn has left many of our farmers in a dire situation, with essential structures and equipment destroyed. It is imperative that the Department of Agriculture steps in to provide the necessary support through a dedicated grant scheme for farm buildings,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s TD for Mayo, Rose Conway-Walsh, has said that the storm has exposed a legacy of infrastructure neglect in Mayo and across rural Ireland.

“Storm Éowyn has battered the entire country and thousands of people remain without power and water. Parts of Mayo have been very significantly affected with widespread outages and in some cases unacceptably long timeframes for reconnection.

“I commend the emergency and statutory services that have been working round the clock doing tremendous work, but the fact remains that the Government’s failure to invest in vital infrastructure means that it will take much longer to recover from this terrible storm. I also commend the Trojan community initiatives being taken around the county.

“Ireland is a wealthy country and the Government likes to boast about record employment and a healthy GDP. But what is this worth when they don’t target investment in basic and essential services?

“The privatisation of our telecommunications has led to asset stripping and no accountability. There are real health-and-safety issues when the disconnection of phone services occurs.

“People on the ground across Mayo are facing [another] day without power and water. There are people with significant medical needs who rely on these services, they must be prioritised for reconnection,” she said.

Mayo County Council’s Emergency Response Hub can be contacted on 094 9064660 or emailed at community@mayococo.ie.

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