Hospital roof damaged amid storm chaos

A section of the roof at Cork University Hospital was damaged and there were electricity outages and spot flooding around the south of the country as winds of up to 140km/h battered the country.

Three units of Cork Fire Brigade attended the hospital after winds ripped cladding from the unoccupied cardiac renal unit.

Waves up to 12m high were recorded off the south-east coast as the storm gathered pace and high flood alerts were put in place in Cork City.

Emergency services at Cork University Hospital, where stormy conditions has caused damage to part of the roof . pic.twitter.com/50IFB5ypQa

— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) December 26, 2013

Flights in and out of Donegal Regional Airport were cancelled and Shannon and Cork airports experienced cancellations and diversions as a result of high winds. One flight to London from Cork was cancelled last night shortly after waiting passengers described the stationary plane as “shaking”, while flights to Cork from Stansted, Amsterdam, and Vilnius were rerouted to the Mid-West.

A Ryanair flight from Shannon to Stansted and an Aer Lingus service from Shannon to Heathrow were forced to divert to Dublin, while an Aer Lingus Regional flight from Birmingham to Shannon had to divert to Cork Airport as winds at Shannon were outside safe landing limits.

Several other Shannon flights were cancelled, including an Aer Lingus Regional flight to Manchester and its return leg.

Electricity outages were recorded around Charleville in North Cork last evening and in the Whitechurch area near Blarney. There were reports of fallen trees around Co Cork last night.

Met Éireann said the severe weather warning it issued yesterday morning applied until 3pm today, with gale force south-east winds veering westerly today.

Met Éireann issued a status red warning for Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Waterford, and Wexford, with a status orange weather alert issued for the rest of the country.

ESB Networks crews worked over Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day to restore power to more than 30,000 homes and businesses, although just a few dozen houses were left without power throughout Wednesday.

The ESB said Achill Island was hit hard due to a large transformer being destroyed by a lightning strike.

Communication lines were also badly affected. Eircom said it had 700 crews working on Christmas Eve to restore broadband and telephone services, and crews were back working yesterday.

The company said it had recalled staff from leave today, next Monday, and next Tuesday to ensure the company has its full complement of technicians to repair any network damage. It said crews around the country would also be working this weekend.

The scale of the damage was considerable, with 7,000 faults reported across the broadband and landline system on Christmas Eve. Eircom said customers who lose service should report it on eircom.ie or the 1901 customer service line.

Eircom said while damage was widespread, the North-West and South were worst affected. Poles were struck by lightning in some cases and damaged by wind in others.

Ferry crossings may also be affected, with Irish Ferries saying there is “serious doubt” over the resumption of some services today. The Rosslare to Pembroke crossings were cancelled on Christmas Eve and bad weather could mean the service does not resume today, with customers urged to check the schedules for updates.

Bus Éireann/Eurolines cross-channel services were also cancelled but many national routes were operational yesterday.