DUBLIN Storm Eowyn’s record-breaking winds pounded Ireland and Northern Ireland on Friday, knocking out electricity to 560,000 homes and businesses, canceling hundreds of flights, and closing schools and public transportation.
Officials advised residents to stay indoors and warned that the storm was expected to be among the most dangerous they have ever encountered. An 80-year record was provisionally broken overnight at Mace Head in County Galway by a gust of 182 kilometers per hour (113 mph), according to the Irish weather service Met Eireann.
Ireland’s electricity supplier, ESB Networks, reported that 560,000 homes, farms, and businesses were without power due to unprecedented damage to its network. As the storm moves north, major outages are anticipated.
Prior to the storm, the power provider warned that some customers would not have electricity for up to nine days.
Dublin Airport said that more than 110 scheduled departures and 110 scheduled arrivals had been canceled, with more cancellations and delays anticipated.
Public transportation will not operate in Ireland as long as a red wind warning is in effect, and all schools in Ireland and Northern Ireland were closed on Friday.
For the first time since Storm Ophelia in 2017, which claimed three lives, the entire nation was under a red warning, the highest alert level.
It is scheduled to be removed in Northern Ireland, which is governed by the British, at 1400 GMT, and for the majority of Ireland at 1100 GMT.
The UK Met Office also issued a red warning for the central and southwest regions of Scotland from 1000 to 1700, alerting residents to the possibility of flying debris that might endanger lives, cause buildings to have their roofs blown off, and cause highways and bridges to close.
National Rail warned residents of Scotland and areas of northern England not to travel on Friday after canceling dozens of flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.