Storm Agnes sweeps across Cork as status yellow wind warning remains in place until midnight

Thousands of homes and businesses across the city and county were left without power today as Storm Agnes swept across Cork.

Major outages were reported in a number of areas with thousands of customers without power in the Ringaskiddy, Macroom and Kanturk areas at points during the day.

Smaller outages, some of which included hundreds of properties, were also reported in areas such as Ballincollig, Bantry, Mallow, Youghal, Fermoy and Bandon.

A spokesperson for ESB Networks said this evening that its crews had been mobilised and had responded to outages across the city and county in an effort to restore power to those affected.

The spokesperson described the scale of disruption as “relatively modest and in line with past experiences of similar Met Éireann Status Orange wind warnings.” 

"We apologise to all customers impacted for the obvious inconvenience caused," the spokesperson added.

Most faults have now been restored, with power expected to return to others later tonight.

The spokesperson reminded people to report any fallen wires or damaged electricity infrastructure by calling 1800 372 999.

Strong winds and heavy rain led to difficult driving conditions for many today with council crews and emergency services responding to incidents the length and breadth of the county including dealing with fallen trees in Fairhill, Blackrock and Carrigrohane.

Crews from Anglesea Street and Ballyvolane are currently dealing with a number of calls around the city including a large tree blocking the road on Monastery Road, Rochestown.

Road is currently closed, avoid the area. #stormagnes🌧️💨🌳 pic.twitter.com/iPNSGyZRg9

— Cork City Fire Brigade (@CorkCityFire) September 27, 2023

Some bus services were re-routed while others operated with delays because of the road conditions.

Bus Éireann suspended services for a time through Glanmire for a time after a tree came down near Vienna Woods hotel.

A number of flights into Cork Airport were also impacted by the conditions.

Emergency services were called to Youghal after a roof was blown off a building in the Front Strand area. The road was closed for a period as crews dealt with the incident.

The roof of UCC’s Beaufort Building in Ringaskiddy was damaged due to the impact of Storm Agnes.

A number of panels at the eaves of the roof became loose due to the high winds.

A spokesperson for UCC said the university is monitoring the situation.

“UCC is monitoring the situation and will have contractors on site as soon as safe to do so. Safety measures for staff are in place."

Spot flooding was reported in some areas and the R579 in Blarney was closed after the river burst its banks.

While Bantry is an area that has previously experienced significant flooding during adverse weather events, local representative, Cllr Danny Collins today said that no major damage had been reported in the area.

#CorkTraffic Reports of a tree down on Sun Valley Drive. Take care on approach. #StormAgnes pic.twitter.com/je0U6c4Y3X

— Cork Safety Alerts (@CorkSafetyAlert) September 27, 2023

He said that while there was some surface water in the town, he had not received any calls from businesses about flooding.

He did however receive a call from one woman who had a very lucky escape.

“One lady did ring me and said she just escaped (a falling tree), it could have been a different story if it happened 15 or 20 seconds later,” he said.

Elsewhere, a number of other counties witnessed travel disruption today as the storm crossed the country.

A number of flights were diverted to Dublin from Kerry. Kerry County Council said it has crews dealing with fallen trees and branches at a number of locations.

In a statement, Irish Ferries said disruption to schedules may be experienced due to adverse weather conditions over the coming days, with passengers advised to check schedules.

RNLI

Meanwhile, Baltimore RNLI were called out during Storm Agnes this afternoon to assist a yacht which was dragging its anchor in the Ilen River in West Cork.

The volunteer lifeboat crew launched their all weather lifeboat at 3.48pm, following a request from the Irish Coast Guard.

The Baltimore lifeboat crew arrived at the yacht at 3.59pm, by which time the yacht with one person on board had gone aground. Coxswain Pat Collins assessed the situation and decided that a tow was necessary. Volunteer crew members Micheal Cottrell and David Ryan were put aboard the casualty vessel at 4.06pm to rig a tow and buoy off and cut clear the anchor so the yacht could be towed free. 

At 4.12pm the all weather lifeboat with the casualty vessel under tow then proceeded to Baltimore Harbour, which was the nearest safe and suitable port.

Due to the storm force conditions with winds gusting to force 12 (65 knots) at times Coxswain Pat Collins requested that Baltimore’s inshore lifeboat was launched to assist the all weather lifeboat in berthing the casualty vessel to a secure mooring within Baltimore Harbour, close to Baltimore Lifeboat Station. 

Baltimore inshore lifeboat launched at 4.23pm and attached a line to the mooring to assist the lifeboat crew that were on the casualty vessel to attach to the mooring more easily. Baltimore all weather lifeboat arrived at the mooring with the casualty vessel in tow and the volunteer lifeboat crew on the inshore lifeboat passed a line to the two volunteer lifeboat crew on the yacht and they then secured the casualty vessel to the mooring. 

Due to the poor weather conditions within the harbour, Coxswain Pat Collins and Helm of Baltimore’s inshore lifeboat Kieran Collins made the decision that it would be safer for the inshore lifeboat to collect the two all weather crew from the yacht. Once the casualty vessel was secured and the skipper of the yacht was happy, Baltimore’s all weather lifeboat made the short journey back to the lifeboat house, arriving at 5.08pm whilst the inshore lifeboat came alongside the casualty vessel to collect the two remaining volunteer lifeboat crew. The inshore lifeboat then returned to the lifeboat station, arriving at 5.20pm.

There were seven volunteer crew onboard the all weather lifeboat, Coxswain Pat Collins, mechanic Cathal Cottrell and crew members Jerry Smith, Micheal Cottrell, Don O’Donovan, Colin Whooley and David Ryan. There were four volunteer crew onboard the inshore lifeboat, Helm Kieran Collins and crew members Kieran O’Driscoll, Rob O’Leary and James Kitt. 

Assisting at the lifeboat station were Rianne Smith, Marion MacFeely, Seamus O’Driscoll, Brian McSweeney and Sean McCarthy. Conditions during the call out were testing with strong gale force winds of force 8 to 9, gusting up to storm force 11-12 and a large sea swell.

Speaking following the call out, Kate Callanan, Baltimore RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer said: 

"Both of our lifeboats were requested to launch in the height of Storm Agnes and conditions were very testing with strong wind, rough seas and poor visibility. There was excellent teamwork shown by both crews throughout the call out and it is a testimony to the high quality of training that the RNLI lifeboat crews receive. 

"As always we are very grateful to our volunteer lifeboat crew and shorecrews who turn up regardless of the conditions to help people at sea. Due to the high winds and heavy rain still expected to continue into early Thursday morning we urge people to exercise extreme caution, particularly along exposed cliffs, seafronts and piers. If you see someone else in danger in the water call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coast Guard.’