Further storms forecast as many wait for power

Met Eireann has warned of heavy rain and winds gusting at between 70 and 80 m.p.h. this morning, following a night of freezing conditions. In the north-west 25,000 households were still waiting last night to be reconnected by the ESB.

As communities in the northwest attempt to return to normal after the St Stephen's Day storm, Met Eireann warned of a new storm predicted to hit the south today. The ESB is bracing itself for further disruptions to services.

Wind speeds are predicted to be significantly below Saturday's high of 109 m.p.h. That storm tore roofs off buildings in Donegal and felled trees over a wide stretch of the midlands and north-west.

Treacherous road conditions may have contributed to yesterday's early morning tragedy in Co Carlow, which claimed the lives of three men from Co Kilkenny. They were travelling in a BMW which struck a tree.

The dead men, all from the parish of Paulstown-Goresbridge, were named as Mr John Hanlon (38), of Viewmount, Goresbridge, Mr Luke Byrne (64) from Garryduff, Paulstown, and Mr Thomas Healy, who was in his forties and also from Garryduff, Paulstown.

Mr Byrne and Mr Healy were local farmers while Mr Hanlon was home for Christmas from England, where he worked as a contractor in heavy machinery.

Ferry companies operating on the Irish Sea have warned of disruptions to services and advised intending passengers to contact them before setting out.

Commenting on the warning, a Met Eireann spokesman said conditions were expected to be "not quite as bad as the exceptional conditions which occurred on St Stephen's Day", but would be stormy. While winds would vary from place to place, gusts of up to 80 m.p.h. could be expected.

"This time the winds are coming from the south and south-east and are expected to affect the southern region," said the spokesman. He added that heavy rain and driving winds would clear most of the ice and snow which had settled over the last few days.

Meanwhile the ESB reported that the St Stephen's Day storm brought down 1,800 ESB poles and caused over 8,000 separate line breaks.

Describing the damage as "very large-scale devastation not seen in 35 years", an ESB spokesman told The Irish Times that the remote location of some houses meant that it could be some days yet before the supply to all householders is reconnected.

Many homes in remote areas of Co Donegal have also been without water because local pumping and filtration stations could not continue to operate following the power failure.

The heaviest snowfall for more than 10 years made road conditions in Co Sligo and north Leitrim extremely hazardous, with melting slush last night.

The snow was up to four inches deep with drifts more than a foot deep on the Benbulben, Gleniffe and Glencar mountains in north Sligo.

Farmers were out on the hills rounding up sheep flocks and moving some of them down to more sheltered ground.

Power failures were also reported in east Clare, while in Northern Ireland crews worked in freezing fog to restore supply. Some 15,000 households out of a total of 50,000 affected remained to be connected yesterday. This figure is expected to be down to a few thousand by this morning.

The Irish Insurance Federation yesterday advised property owners to take all reasonable steps to make temporary repairs, where it was safe to do so, to prevent further damage being caused.

A spokesman said that while the full cost of the storm would not be known for some weeks, it was expected to run "into millions of pounds." A similar storm last Christmas had resulted in 47,500 claims costing £64 million, while Hurricane Charlie, which struck in 1996, caused £25 million worth of damage.

The Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for the elderly, Dr Tom Moffatt, has called on people in areas affected by the storms to check on elderly neighbours, who would be especially vulnerable to broken hips from falls at this time.