Motorist killed by falling tree as weather batters the country

The gale-force winds which buffeted the country over the last 24 hours claimed the life of a young woman in Westmeath after a tree blew over and struck her car.

The 23-year-old, who was the sole occupant of the car, was trapped after the vehicle was hit by the falling tree on the Ballymahon Rd outside Mullingar just after 4pm yesterday.

She was rushed to the Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar where gardaí said she was pronounced dead from her injuries approximately 90 minutes later.

Kilmallock, Co Limerick, was on lockdown last night after three people were injured when a “tornado” ripped a roof from a three-storey building before dumping it and a steel garden shed onto the main street.

Local garda Marie Twohig described the weather surge as a freak storm.

“It suddenly blew up with torrential rain at about 3pm and about half an hour later it had all subsided,” she said.

A spokesman for Limerick County Council said Sarsfield St, the main street in the town, would “remain closed overnight” as safety inspections are carried out on buildings.

The council spokesman said there were workmen inside the building at the time, renovating into an adjoining building. They were uninjured.

In Clare, a female driver had a lucky escape after she lost control of her car in storm-force winds and crashed into a tree near Kilnamona.

In Galway City, gardaí were forced to close off a large section of Salthill promenade last night after massive waves flooded a large part of the seafront, submerging a number of cars which were parked there.

Nationwide, emergency services were stretched to capacity as they tried to clear roads of fallen debris as well as flooding.

In Cork City last night, two lanes of the dual carriageway in Tivoli were blocked for about an hour by a fallen tree.

A fire brigade spokesman said crews were going from job to job, dealing with fallen trees and slates which had been blown off roofs.

From yesterday afternoon, the ESB was working around the country to try to restore power to thousands of homes who had lost supply due to the extensive storm damage.

Initially much of the work was focused in the south and south-west of the country.

By 9pm, ESB staff had managed to restore power to much of those areas, though the company said some customers were still without supply, including a number in the Macroom area of Lissacreasig, Carrigaphooca, where power will not be restored until today.

However, around the rest of the country, the ESB said crews were still continuing to try to restore power to more than 14,000 customers. By that stage, the majority who remained impacted were located in the midlands, west, and north-west. The ESB said the worst affected areas included Newport, Belmullet, and Westport in Co Mayo.

While winds reaching up to 150km/h blasted the country yesterday evening, Met Éireann is predicting some respite today with cold, bright conditions expected. However tomorrow, rain and strengthening south-westerly winds will spread countrywide again, with some heavy falls of rain expected, especially in the west.