Flood waters continued to rise in many parts of the south last night, with Munster worst affected as stormy conditions returned with extremely heavy rainfall and driving winds.
Some 12,000 homes in the Republic remained without electricity overnight due to storm damage, along with another 9,000 in the North.
Emergency crews were on stand-by to evacuate households in Mallow and Fermoy in Co Cork, and in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. The clean-up after Saturday's hurricane was severely hampered by 70 m.p.h. winds and over an inch of rain in the south.
Many houses were sand-bagged as a precaution as thundery showers followed the gales, and further heavy rainfall was predicted by Met Eireann for tonight.
ESB crews, attempting to restore power to 25,000 homes without power since Saturday, mostly in the north-west, faced "atrocious conditions". They reconnected 13,000 homes, leaving 12,000 without power, but high winds and lightning meant an additional 300 homes in Munster were without electricity.
Three Dublin teenagers who had been stranded on Carrauntoohil, Co Kerry, since Saturday were located at 5 p.m. yesterday and led to safety by the Kerry Mountain Rescue team. Ben Griffin (16), Donal O'Shea (17) and Eoin Curran (17) from Templeogue were part of a group which went climbing on St Stephen's Day. A fourth youth, Daragh Curran (18), Eoin's brother, got down the mountain unaided and raised the alarm.
Suffering from dehydration and exposure, they sheltered in a hut about halfway up the mountain and waited for assistance. Conditions on the mountain yesterday were "treacherous" with low visibility, driving rain and high winds, according to Mr Christy McCarthy, spokesman for the rescue team. "They were extremely lucky. They were young but experienced climbers. They had the right gear and took the correct action, but their camping gear was blown away."
As some households were going into their fourth night without electricity, the ESB said it would not be compensating customers, unlike Northern Ireland Electricity, which confirmed it was to make "a goodwill payment of £50" to those without electricity for more than 24 hours.
While the ESB's customer charter allows for such payments where it does not live up to its commitments, hurricane-force winds were "an exceptional event outside our control", its spokeswoman said.
Northern Ireland's electricity industry regulator, Ofreg, criticised NIE for failing to provide customers with up-to-date information during the power cuts.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has warned consumers without electricity for long periods to check freezer produce carefully. Thawed foods should not be refrozen, but should be cooked and eaten within three days. Where fridges had been off for two to three days, extreme caution was necessary with contents.
The Minister for the Marine has ordered an investigation into an incident in which the Isle of Man ferry ran aground on the north bank in Dublin Port about 8.20 p.m. last night. The ferry was towed off by two tugs and berthed safely in the port a short time later.
Lifeboats from Howth and Dun Laoghaire were alerted, and the rescue helicopter based at Dublin Airport was put on alert. No one was injured in the incident.
