County Clare appears to have escaped the worst of the wrath of Storm Hannah with no significant property damage or injuries reported.
Six of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service’s seven stations responded to a total of 70 calls Friday night and this morning, 68 of which related directly to Storm Hannah.
Fire crews from Ennis, Shannon, Killaloe, Scarriff, Kilrush and Ennistymon worked through the night to clear roads of large and smaller trees. In some cases, specially trained fire service personnel spent hours clearing larger trees which were blown over onto public roads with the force of the storm.
Conditions were deemed too dangerous at the height of the Status Red wind warning that fire service management opted not to deploy crews to some incidents. Crews were however dispatched to deal with the more dangerous incidents once the wind warning had been downgraded from Status Red.
By this morning at 9am, fire crews had been stood down and responsibility for any remaining incidents handed over to council crews in the county’s various municipal districts.
Clare County Council said however: “Motorists are advised to drive with caution on our county’s roads this weekend. Our crews continue to work to clear trees/debris to make the road network safe.”
Winds in the Shannon Estuary were reported to have reached over 155km/h on Friday night while several flights at Shannon Airport were cancelled or forced to divert to other airports as a result of the high winds.
The Cliffs of Moher remained closed on Friday as the storm reached the Clare coast but the popular attraction reopened this morning with thousands of visitors descending on the site despite the less dangerous but still strong winds.
During the worst phase of the storm, electricity to over 4,000 homes, mostly in the west of the county, was lost. This afternoon, crews were still working to restore power to several hundred properties.
Irish Water had asked customers to be mindful of their water consumption yesterday due to issues with supply, as a result of power outages from Storm Hannah.
The utility confirmed that, in Co. Clare, a power outage was impacting water supplies in Kildysart and Mountshannon. Storage in the reservoirs means customers are not currently experiencing any issues and the ESB is working to restore power.”
