Clean-up begins after Storm Bert as thousands still left without power

Clean-up operations are nether mode aft Storm Bert swept crossed the land of Ireland, causing flooding and thousands of powerfulness outages.

Power cuts affected 60,000 customers astatine the tallness of the outage; ESB teams are inactive moving to reconstruct supplies to the thousands inactive near without electricity.

Status reddish rainfall warnings were successful spot for Cork and Galway until 10am connected Saturday, with an orangish alert for rainfall successful spot for counties Waterford, Kerry, Clare, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim.

A yellowish alert for upwind and rainfall warnings was successful spot for astir counties until midday connected Saturday, but different Status yellowish informing is successful spot from 5pm until 2am connected Sunday for six counties.

Those are Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow.

Bridge Street successful Killybegs, Co Donegal, is among the areas worst-hit by the tempest – with homes, businesses and charities on the thoroughfare affected by melodramatic flooding overnight.

There was besides atrocious flooding successful westbound Limerick, wherever the Feale River burst its banks, and connected roads successful Galway and Cork.

Rebecca Mullen, of The Flour House bakery successful Riverstick, Co Cork, said that Storm Babet flooded the bakery past October, and the bakery had flooded again aft Storm Bert.

They had received grants from the Red Cross to assistance them done the past flood wherever a batch of harm was done.

“Without those grants we truly wouldn’t person a concern today, it’s conscionable truly important that tiny businesses past upwind systems,” she told the PA quality agency.

“Saturday is 1 of our busiest days, we’ve already had to cancel a marketplace due to the fact that of the upwind system, truthful present we’ve evidently had to unopen the store today, truthful we’ll beryllium losing wealth there.

“I’ve done deliveries of cakes contiguous wherever I tin to the radical who person ordered, but present it’s the cleanable up, its the outgo of getting the unit backmost in, other hours, moving retired what is salvageable and what isn’t.”

She said tiny businesses are already struggling due to the fact that of rising costs specified arsenic the 13.5% VAT complaint and unit pay.

“Every time counts. You can’t miss a day’s trade. I deliberation that’s what’s going to truly wounded us. Every azygous portion of coinage is required to get america through.”

In Northern Ireland, the Department for Infrastructure said its roads and rivers teams responded to much than 500 incidents since the yellowish alert for rainfall and snowfall was issued overnight.

It said that roads crossed counties Tyrone, Down and Antrim were blocked by trees and flood waters, and properties were flooded successful Dundonald, Kilcoo, Coalisland and Ballinamallard arsenic good a Royal Mail spot successful Mallusk.

“The Emergency Flooding Payment Scheme has been activated by the Department for Communities,” it said.

“The upwind informing has present passed and though astir rivers person present peaked, unit proceed to liaise with multi-agency partners and to show h2o levels and region debris from watercourses to assistance floodwaters to get away.

“Flooding was prevented successful galore areas owed to the proactive surface attraction enactment being undertaken by unit who proceed to show watercourses.

“Please study immoderate incidents of flooding to the Flooding Incident Line 0300 2000 100.”