Thousands of homes and businesses in Galway are without power this morning after Storm Ellen battered the county last night.
Heavy rain pelted down across much of Ireland overnight – winds at Shannon Airport reached speeds of 67 kmh with gusts of 113 kmh by 1am.
Four hours earlier, a status orange weather warning took effect and lasted until 6am this morning.
A significant number of faults were reported overnight to ESB – with homes in Salthill, Kilcolgan, Ballygar, Athenry, Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Ballycrossaun and Curra losing power.
By 2am, around 20,000 homes and businesses in Galway were without power.
Most of these were in the east of the county – over 7,300 homes around Ballygar were affected before faults were repaired.
The majority of the remaining faults are expected to be fixed between lunchtime and mid-afternoon today, and those in Claregalway, Salthill and some in Kilcolgan are estimated to be restored later in the afternoon.
ESB Networks has warned people who come across fallen wires not to approach them as they could be live and extremely dangerous.
