Storm Eowyn Friday continued to cause power outages for hundreds of thousands, knocked down trees and disrupted transportation as it moved across Scotland and Northern Ireland into Britain’s West Midlands region. A fallen tree blown over by Eowyn is seen on Donegal Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland Friday. Photo by Marie Therese Hurson/EPA-EFE
Jan. 24 (UPI) — Storm Eowyn Friday continued to cause power outages for hundreds of thousands of people, knocked down trees and disrupted transportation as it moved across Scotland and Northern Ireland into Britain’s West Midlands region.
The storm was a powerful and rare “weather bomb” that caused widespread damage from Ireland to Scotland and the British West Midlands.
In Ireland 725,000 lost power as storm winds reached 100 mph.
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled and some main roads were closed in Britain and Ireland.
“The worst of Storm Eowyn has now passed for most of the country, but with Met Eireann wind warnings remaining in place further outages may still arise,” the Electricity Supply Board Networks said in a statement.
ScotRail said the full extent of the damage to rail lines won’t be known until a full assessment is in from Network Rail. No trains will run in Scotland until midday Saturday at the earliest.
Packing high winds in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the storm’s winds died down somewhat in the West Midlands, but still gusted over 50 mph in some places.
According to National Rail, overhead electric lines between Walsall and Birmingham New Street were damaged.
Heavy rain from the storm was expected to happen through the weekend, triggering a yellow weather warning from Britain’s Met Office weather service.
Rail travel was disrupted by the storm and some flights from Birmingham Airport to Belfast, Dublin, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Paris were cancelled.
In Ireland’s County Leitrim, 61 year-old Paul Butler said Friday there was no estimate as to when power would be restored, and he said he was glad he bought a generator last year.
“We have trees ripped off their stumps lying in the garden, the roof of our neighbor’s outhouse has been torn and a chimney pot fell off her roof just missing her car,” he told The Guardian.
He estimated it could take eight or nine days for power to be restored.