Yellow warning for Cork, Kerry and Waterford amid Storm Éowyn cleanup

ESB Networks crews and partner contractors pictured on site near Dunmanway in West Cork during restoration works in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM PHOTO

Two wind warnings are set to come into effect as the country continues to count the cost of the damage caused by Storm Éowyn. 

A yellow wind warning for Cork, Kerry and Waterford will come into effect from 11pm on Sunday night and remain in place until 6am on Monday morning. 

Met Éireann have warned strong and gusty winds can bring further damage to already weakened structures and trees, and that dangerous travelling conditions are also expected. 

A second warning for Wexford will also come into place at 2am. It will remain in effect until 2pm on Monday. 

Status Yellow - Wind warning for Wexford Met Éireann Weather Warning Strong and gusty winds.

Meanwhile, cleanup following Storm Éowyn is continuing nationwide. Emergency support hubs have also been set up in the worst affected areas to assist people with basic needs such as water, hot food, phone charging, broadband access, showers and clothes-washing facilities. 

According to the ESB, some 278,000 homes and businesses were without power as of 5pm on Sunday, down from a peak of around 768,000 on Friday. The ESB says that affected areas may have to wait days for their electricity to be restored.

"Crews are continuing to work late into the evening in difficult conditions due to Storm Herminia," a spokesperson said. 

"This storm hasn’t caused significant damage to the network; however, it has made power restoration more challenging in places.

"Crews will commence work once again at first light tomorrow morning. Power restoration efforts will remain dynamic and weather conditions may impact on the restoration work," the spokesperson added. 

Support is also being received from Great Britain and further support has been requested from operators across Europe. 

Difficult driving conditions on a road near Crookstown, Co. Cork, during hailstone and wet snow showers on Saturday afternoon in the current spell of unsettled weather. Picture: Denis Minihane.

Uisce Éireann says that approximately 112,000 people are still without water and that the supplies of around 126,000 other homes, businesses, and farms are at risk.

Broadband provider eir has said it has restored and fixed services to 110,000 homes and businesses, while service has been restored to over 500 mobile sites in the same period. 

"Currently It is estimated that 94,000 homes and businesses customers remain without broadband," a spokesperson said. 

"Eir had backup battery systems supporting our priority core and mobile network sites through Friday, and this has been augmented throughout the weekend with the deployment of mobile generators, for critical services. 

"This will be continued while we await full power restoration in these areas. In terms of outages and faults, the northern half of the country continues to be the most impacted, particularly in the Midlands, West and North West," the spokesperson added. 

Emergency Response Hubs will be set up in the worst affected areas to assist people with basic needs such as water, hot food, phone charging, broadband access, showers and clothes washing facilities, the National Emergency Co-ordination Group said on Sunday. 

In an update, the group said it will continue to manage Local Coordination Groups in the worst affected areas. 

However, the group said that not all local authorities will need to establish Emergency Response Hubs and that authorities are "best placed to gauge the level of response required in their areas." 

"All local authorities will share available resources between them, and a central national database is being established to support this," a spokesperson said. 

Workers remove a fallen tree which crashed through the wall of Phoenix Park and on to Blackhorse Avenue in Dublin. Picture: rian Lawless/PA Wire

On Saturday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin pledged that the Government would carry out a full assessment of the damage wrought by Storm Eowyn.

The destruction caused by some of the strongest winds on record has been unprecedented, and there is still a huge amount of work needed in the days ahead to restore electricity, water and communications to hundreds of thousands of people.

Mr Martin added the post-storm cleanup is "a whole of Government effort" involving the ESB, EirGrid, Irish Water, Local Authorities, the Defence Forces, Civil Defence, the NPWS, Coillte and others.

"My Government will fully assess the situation in the coming days to see what supports we can offer people and businesses caught up in the aftermath of this storm," he said.