More than 400,000 properties across the UK and Ireland remain without power after the battering by Storm Éowyn, with repair efforts hampered by continuing strong winds and rain.
In Northern Ireland about 101,000 households and businesses were without power on Sunday while in Scotland the figure was 20,000.
The Republic of Ireland’s electricity supplier said about 300,000 properties had no power and that it could take until Friday to restore it to everyone.
As the authorities attempt to clean up after Éowyn on Friday, the Met Office issued new warnings for wind and rain across the UK until Tuesday as a result of Storm Herminia hitting Spain.
Éowyn was one of the strongest storms in a generation with record-breaking wind speeds that brought widespread travel problems, power cuts and significant damage to infrastructure.
At its height, the storm left more than 1 million people without power as hurricane-strength gusts battered Ireland and the UK.
The strongest gust, of 114mph, was recorded in Mace Head, County Galway, while a gust of 100mph was recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire.
A 19-year-old man died after his car was struck by a falling tree in East Ayrshire on Friday morning, police announced on Sunday.
A man who was killed in Ireland has been named as 20-year-old Kacper Dudek. Dudek, who was born in Poland but brought up in Lifford, County Donegal, had been travelling home from work at 5.30am when a tree struck his car. He reportedly had been carrying out a U-turn after coming across a road accident when Storm Éowyn uprooted a tree and crushed his car.
The wind speeds were the highest Ireland had experienced in about 80 years and also caused a wind turbine in County Galway to snap in two.
At the storm’s peak, about 30% of properties in Northern Ireland had lost power and on Sunday morning, NIE Networks said approximately 101,000 customers remained without electricity.
Derek Hynes, the managing director of the energy company, said it estimated it would take 10 days to restore power to everyone. “We are still visiting locations where damage has been caused and are working on the faults that will get power back to the highest possible numbers of homes and businesses,” he said.
“From what we are seeing so far, we believe that it will be around 10 days by the time we complete the repairs needed to get power back to everyone. Please bear with us as we work through the yellow weather warning over the course of today.”
Hynes urged the public not to approach any damaged electricity equipment and to be careful around fallen trees.
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In Scotland, SP Energy Networks said 14,000 were still cut off. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said 12,000 households were still without power.
The Scottish first minister, John Swinney, said that with yellow weather warnings still in place it meant the severity of Storm Éowyn would continue into next week.
He added: “I want to thank people for their continued patience and encourage them to take extra care and look out for each other, particularly those who are supporting vulnerable neighbours and family members.”
On Sunday, there were six separate UK Met Office yellow weather warnings in place for wind and rain covering southern England, the Midlands, Wales, parts of northern England, south-west Scotland and all of Northern Ireland.
On Monday, there are four yellow warnings for wind and rain across Wales and large parts of England. On Tuesday, a wind warning is in place for southern England and parts of Wales.
The warnings have been prompted by Storm Herminia, which has been named by meteorological authorities in Spain where it will strike the heaviest. Forecasters said it would mean winds speeds of 50-60mph quite widely and up to 80mph near coasts in parts of the UK.
Jonathan Vautrey, a Met Office meteorologist, said Sunday’s new low pressure system was “certainly going to be a notch down compared to Éowyn”. But it could hamper the clean up, he said. “Obviously places maybe currently have a bit of a lower threshold for wind strengths at this stage, following all the disruption and damage that’s been put in place.”
