The Northern Ireland Executive met on Friday evening and thanked front line workers who have been keeping people safe during the impacts of Storm Éowyn.
Around a million homes, farms and businesses in the Republic and Northern Ireland were left without power on Friday following record-breaking winds. Northern Ireland’s Department of Infrastructure said more than 1,800 objects had blocked roads, and that teams would work to clear them once weather alerts had lifted.
A statement issued bon behalf of the Executive said front line staff have performed heroics over the last 24 hours, but warned that the days ahead may be tough
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It read: "Working in the most difficult of conditions, our front line staff have performed heroics over the last 24 hours and we thank them for everything they have done and are doing. We are in their debt. The position remains very challenging with approximately 214,000 homes without power and temperatures forecast to fall close to or below freezing.
"Many roads are blocked with fallen trees, power lines and debris. More than 2000 obstructions on the road network have been reported including 873 on our motorways and class A, B and C roads.
"Ministers have thanked the public for following the advice and have encouraged them to continue to do everything to stay safe. Consider if your journey is really necessary particularly as further severe weather alerts including snow and ice and strong winds are expected. The Executive is committed to doing everything it can to return the situation to normal as quickly as possible."
"The recovery operation will take time, will impact on the running of our public services and will have significant financial implications," the statement continued.
"But we will continue to work together and will leave no stone unturned to get the support necessary. The Executive tonight agreed to write to the Prime Minister to ask for assistance in dealing with the impacts of the storm.
"The issue of practical support has also been raised with the Tánaiste by the First Minister."
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said it will take days to assess the full impact of the “severe” storm.
“We’re only now starting to see the number of calls start to rise in respect of impacts, concerns for safety, and indeed, more and more reports in respect of roads blocked and issues as a consequence of that,” he said.
“So I think it’s going to be a number of days before we can fully understand the full impacts of this storm but certainly this was a severe storm.”
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