Storm Darragh has hit Galway and particularly the West Connemara area hard for the second time in a fortnight with a range of services badly affected.
As is the norm with Atlantic winds, storm Darragh unleashed its first blows on the countryside from Lettermore north to Leenane.
Mace Head in a promontory that wades into the Atlantic at Carna on the far west coast of Connemara. It rarely fails to record the wildest gusts when storms come in of the Alantic.
The surrounding countryside felt the impact and It was the same with storm Darragh.
It blew a Force 12 continually for a period between 11 and 12 midnight on Friday and that is not far off 100 miles per hour.
The entirety of the power grid from Lettermore in the south to Clifden and Leenane in the north was out until late last night.
Phones were silenced - both landlines and mobiles - and there were widespread water shortages as there was no power to pump a supply from the sources.
Following up on the recent snowfall damage, communities and business concerns and have lost another working day due to the ravages of bad weather.
And nobody knows when the winds will hammer Mace Head again and darken the countryside.
Meanwhile, Uisce Eireann are continuing to restore supply to areas in Galway affected by Storm Darragh.
Customers in Abbeyknockmoy, Monivea, Newcastle, Tamplecross, Gurteen, Carrabane, Cahertinny, Caherhenryhoe, Attymon and Kiltullagh and surrounding areas experienced supply issues and intermittent outages last night and this morning while homes and businesses on the west side of Galway City, Moycullen, Barna and the surrounding areas also experienced water supply issues following a power outage to the New Clifton Hill Reservoir in Galway City.
Uisce Éireann’s customer care team is available to help 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on X @IWCare with any queries. For further updates, visit the service and supply section of www.water.ie
ESB crews have resumed work this morning, to restore power to tens of thousands of homes.
There was widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure which impacted 395,000 customers at the peak.
The impact is similar to that of Storm Ophelia in 2017
Power was restored to 275,000 customers over the course of yesterday but as of as at 8:45pm yesterday evening, approximately 120,000 homes, farms and businesseswere still without power.
The ESB says significant numbers may be without supply for a number of days.
Due to the severity and significant scale of the damage some customers could be without power for approximately a week.
An Post says it expects all post offices to be open for business tomorrow following Storm Darragh's disruption over the weekend.
Some deliveries are getting back on track today but local staff in badly affected areas will join the efforts when its safe to do so.
An Post is also reminding the public that final dates for Christmas cards to be posted in time for the US is Tuesday the 10th of December.
Meanwhile, final dates for parcel deliveries in time for Christmas for Europe is Thursday the 12th.
