ALMOST 400,000 customers were left without power as Storm Darragh battered Ireland at the weekend.
A further 48,000 were similarly affected in Northern Ireland at the peak of the outages.
Meanwhile, two men have been killed by falling trees in England, where a Yellow wind warning remains in place on Sunday.
According to electricity supplier ESB Networks, widespread and extensive damage to infrastructure impacted 395,000 customers in Ireland at the peak of the disruption.
Workers cut a fallen tree blocking a road in Ballyclare (Image: Charles McQuillan / Getty Images)Power was restored to 275,000 customers over the course of Saturday but as of 8.45pm, around 120,000 homes, farms and businesses remained without electricity.
“Large numbers of customers impacted by Storm Darragh have had their power restored throughout today but significant numbers may be without supply for a number of days,” read a statement from ESB Networks.
“Due to the severity and significant scale of the damage some customers could be without power for approximately a week.”
Assistance centres
In Northern Ireland, NIE Networks said gusts between 60mph and 70mph caused extensive damage to the electricity network, leaving 48,000 customers without power at the peak of the outages.
As of 9pm on Saturday, engineers had restored power to more than 25,000 customers although NIE said that it may be a number of days before they can reconnect all customers.
“With the amber weather warning in place until 9pm tonight outages have continued to be reported throughout the day,” said Edel Creery of NIE Networks.
“Due to the widespread damage we anticipate it could be a number of days before power is successfully restored to all customers impacted.
“We would ask customers to bear with us as our teams work to restore power.”
The company will open eight community assistance centres across Northern Ireland on Sunday to help those without power.
The centres will offer warm drinks, charging and changing facilities while NIE Networks staff will be available to answer any queries.
On the outskirts of Belfast, a bus driver was hospitalised after his vehicle left the road near Templepatrick in the early hours of Saturday, colliding with a wall and a house.
It is not clear if the strong winds contributed to the collision, although the storm brought down a large tree in nearby Ballyclare.
The driver, who was the only person on board the airport transfer bus at the time, has since been discharged.
Deaths
While there are no current weather warnings in Ireland, a Yellow wind warning is in place in England until 6pm today.
West Midlands Police confirmed that a man died in the Erdington area of Birmingham at around 3pm on Saturday after a tree fell and hit his car.
“Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this time, and his next of kin have been informed,” said Sergeant Benjamin Parsons.
In Lancashire, a man in his 40s died after a tree fell on to his Citroen van on the A59 at Longton at around 9am on Saturday.
“Very sadly this incident has resulted in the death of a man and our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time,” said Detective Sergeant Matt Davidson.