Thousands in Donegal still without power following Storm Boelo

Donegal currently has 6,416 customers across 19 separate faults following Storm Boelo.

During the night, the number of outages in the county soared to a high point of 23,800. ESB Networks reports that peak outages reached their highest point overnight during the height of the storm, tracking around 40 distinct faults.

Buncrana was the worst-affected town in the county, suffering a single massive fault that knocked out power to 5,794 customers on its own. Widespread blackouts also severely impacted Stranorlar with 2,746 premises offline, Carndonagh with 2,068 properties dark, and the Ballyshannon area where fallen trees cut supply to roughly 1,750 customers. Significant network damage further hit infrastructure in Milford, Dungloe, Derrybeg, Gweedore, Convoy, and Bundoran, leaving thousands more in total darkness.

Based strictly on the ESB Networks PowerCheck fault data for Donegal, the current localised outages are Carndonagh: 2,068 customers affected (across five distinct faults); Buncrana: 2,008 customers affected (across two faults); Derrybeg: 841 customers affected; Bundoran: 831 customers affected; Creeslough: 327 customers affected (across three faults); Ballyshannon: 300 customers affected (across four faults); Ballymacarry: 28 customers affected and Convoy: 13 customers affected.

The majority of these individual faults show an estimated restoration time of 2pm today. Some homes may have electricity restored earlier, while others could unfortunately be waiting longer, depending on the extent of the damage and conditions on the ground.

Met Éireann implemented multiple severe weather warnings for the county, including a Status Yellow rain warning from 4am until 3pm on Saturday, immediately followed by a Status Orange wind alert from 2pm on Saturday until 9am on Sunday.

Additionally, a severe Status Red Marine Storm Warning was enforced along the Donegal coast from Rossan Point/Erris Head to Bloody Foreland from 7pm on Saturday until 6am on Sunday.

Sinn Féin’s Buncrana-based councillor Jack Murray posted: “I understand that - for the most part - power has been restored across South Inishowen. Massive thanks to the ESB crew who worked to get it back while most of us slept. Also huge thanks to council staff who were on call and provided sandbags where needed and acted upon emergency calls. I know our fire service was required too and they deserve thanks for that as well.”

These feelings were echoed by the 100% Redress Party’s Charles Ward TD, who said: “A huge thank you to the ESB crews, Donegal County Council staff and emergency services who have been working in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions to keep people safe and restore essential services. Please check in on neighbours, particularly anyone living alone, where it is safe to do so.”