A white, powder-like substance, which covered windows and car windshields in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, is hampering Wexford’s ESB crews efforts to restore power locally.
The substance, which experts say was a concoction of wind-blown sea salt, dust and dirt, played havoc with electrical apparatus and power lines, resulting in many areas across the county which had retained their power during the storm, losing it on Friday evening.
The problem is particularly affecting ESB engineers’ power restoring efforts in counties Wexford and Waterford.
Around 7,500 homes were without power on Friday morning, and while this number greatly decreased throughout the day, there are still around the same number of properties without power this afternoon (Saturday) as a result of the wind-blown substance.
The ESB are urging homeowners who do not have power currently, and who’s fault is not listed on the ESB Power Check app, to report the fault immediately on 1800 372 999.
Speaking to South East Radio News, Storm Co-Ordinator for the Enniscorthy and Wexford area Peter Graham outlined some of the areas that are still without power:
“So we’ve had a number of faults in and around the Bunclody area and around Crane, but as of yesterday the areas around Killinick, Bealistown and Wexford were hit particularly bad on our 20kV network and at the moment we have a lot of people patrolling the line looking for faults that haven’t been identified yet, looking for broken apparatus.”
