Last Friday storm Eowyn hit Ireland and parts of Scotland, it brought record wind speeds, with Irish weather service Met Éireann recording 183km/h (114mph) in Mace Head, County Galway.
More than 150,000 customers were still without power in the Republic of Ireland earlier this week, as crews continued to repair "unprecedented" damage to the electricity network caused by Storm Éowyn. ESB Networks said it hoped to restore power to most homes and businesses by this Friday. Meanwhile, 74,000 customers were without water, with a further 70,000 at risk due to power losses at water treatment plants.
"On the day of the storm, the country was more or less closed down. We ourselves closed business for the first part of the day to avoid staff traveling to work and only brought in staff who lived close within a couple of kilometers of the business," said Stephen McCormack from McCormack Family Farms.
"We suffered some damage to our plastic tunnel structures, but thankfully no glasshouse damage. At this time of the year, the tunnels were empty, so there was no damage to crops. There was real structural damage just lots of fallen trees which fell on roads and power lines
"Power loss to the county was very widespread and still to today in my location we are now into our 6th day with power. Most new houses today don't have open fires to burn solid fuel and I am sorry now that I hadn't. Even a gas hop would have been a great help if o lay to boil water."
There is no word from authorities as to any help for farmers affected by the storm.
For more information:
Stephen McCormack
McCormack Farms
Tel.: +353 46 902 56 95
stephen@mccormackfarms.ie
www.mccormackfarms.ie