As emergency personnel fought to restore services after Storm Eowyn, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland were still without electricity late Saturday.
One person was killed, aircraft were grounded, and schools were closed as the storm pounded the area Friday. Britain’s Met Office claimed on Saturday that it was “probably the strongest” to hit the UK in at least ten years.
As both nations prepared for the approach of additional potentially disruptive weather over the weekend, the Spanish-named Storm Herminia, Ireland registered its strongest-ever wind gusts.
As it moves throughout the area on Sunday and Monday, the British Met Office and the Irish Meteorological Service Met Eireann issued new warnings for snow, ice, wind, and rain.
As the clean-up from Eowyn continued, Ireland’s ESB Networks said it had restored power to 366,000 homes, farms and businesses by Saturday evening but that 402,000 still had no electricity.
By late afternoon, some 140,000 houses in Northern Ireland were still without electricity, according to NIE Networks, the region’s electrical supplier.
Additionally, as Sunday drew near, about 35,000 households in Scotland were still without electricity. According to the Scottish government, there were still issues with ferries, airlines, rail, and roads.
According to the UK government, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Scottish First Minister John Swinney and Northern Ireland’s leaders to consider potential additional support.
Swinney warned people in Scotland “should prepare for continued disruption” with the winter weather forecast into the next week.
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