‘We’re in the eye of Storm Éowyn’: More than 93,000 homes and businesses without power
More than 93,000 homes and business in Northern Ireland are currently without power, NIE has confirmed.
Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme this morning she said 'preparations are there' as she urged the public to stay at home. It comes as more than more than 93,000 homes and businesses without power in NIEmma Little-Pengelley said that people should follow advice and stay home, adding that there is a risk to life because of flying debris.
“If people go out and get into a situation, then that is calling out those essential workers, and we don’t want people to come out to have to deal with those," she added.
“So we are advising everyone to stay at home, there is a significant outage on the electricity, I understand that almost 500 have been reported right throughout Northern Ireland, that was anticipated.
“As the First Minister said, we have already had that briefing call this morning with our Civil Contingencies Group and the PSNI to ensure that all of the preparations are in place, that everything is running as it ought to.
“I want to reassure the public that the preparations are there, the network is there in terms of stepping up, but what you can do, and everyone can play their part in this, is to stay home.”
“The storm will blow over, the worst of it is here at the moment, and over the next number of hours, but of course we will get through that.
“We of course importantly have that information from other parts of this island this morning, because the storm has hit earlier in other parts.
“So we know that this is serious, and as I said yesterday we always want to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
“This is a very serious storm, it is a red alert, there is a significant danger, particularly from flying debris. If something is going on outside your house, stay inside because the danger to you is from that flying debris over the next couple of hours.”