Storm Eowyn: Fear for businesses as works continue to restore power

More than 75,000 remain without power in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of Storm Eowyn.

Additional engineers have been brought to the region from Great Britain to help NIE Networks with the task of restoring power.

That was the latest announcement on Sunday (1pm).

NIE Network previously said it could take up to 10 days for them to fully restore power, but power has now been restored to 183,000 customers.

The electricity company posted to X saying: “Our restoration efforts today may be affected by the further yellow weather warning.”

Additional engineers have been brought to the region from Great Britain to help NIE Networks with the task of restoring power.

Some 52 engineers from England were scheduled to arrive on Saturday, with 30 to be utilised by NIE and 22 to assist ESB Networks in the Irish Republic, and further resources to follow.

The storm has seen more than 100 schools damaged and over 2,300 reported obstructions on the road network with 70 trees having to be cleared on Friday just to reopen the M2.

First Minister Michelle O'Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly visited NIE Networks in Craigavon on Saturday afternoon to thank workers.

Ms O'Neill described the storm and its impact as "unprecedented on every level".

"People will continue to work tirelessly to ensure people are reconnected as quickly as possible. It is very difficult given the sheer volume of damage that has been caused but we're assured that all the work that can be done is being done, and we want to thank the staff for all of their efforts," she said.

Ms Little-Pengelly welcomed the additional engineers and said they will be emphasising the need for that help and support for Northern Ireland in meetings with the Prime Minister and political leaders across the UK.

The reconnection task is expected to be made more challenging today after the Met Office issued a yellow warning for strong winds across Northern Ireland, with potential disruption to transport and infrastructure expected.

We're hearing this is leaving business owners panicked about the days to come.

Caroline Smith owns a convenience store in Darragh Cross with her husband Aiden. She spoke to CoolFM/Downtown news exclusively.

She told us what went through her head when she heard it could take up to 10 days for power to be fully restored: “Heart break. I honestly just broke down crying. I know we can’t withstand this; we’ve nobody else; it’s just me and Aidan.”

“We got bread deliveries in, bread sitting everywhere expecting to be back up and running. It just kept going on and on... but we understand it’s everywhere in Northern Ireland.”

We asked how much money Caroline thinks had been lost after just three days: “It’s up in the thousands. The fridges are all gone, we got a meat delivery on Thursday night so that’s just total waste. We’ve got problems with our newspapers and then the freezers. So, we’ve no idea how much it is. It depends, everyday that roles on, we’re losing sales constantly.”

Mrs Smith said she was extremely anxious at the thought of being without power for 10 days. However, as of this morning, thankfully she has got electricity.

So, the clean-up operation begins as Caroline and Aidan begin to gut the shop, of all the wasted stock.

Storm Eowyn has been "pretty exceptional" and was "probably the strongest storm" to hit the UK in at least 10 years, the Met Office has said.

It was the most intense in "more like 20 or 30 years" for some parts of the country, forecasters added.

It does not stop there though. A yellow wind warning is in place from 10 o'clock this morning (Sunday 26th) until 7 o'clock tonight across Northern Ireland.