Major clean-up operation planned for Cork as tree-clearing begins

A major clean-up is due to begin in Co Cork today as local authority staff set about a massive tree-clearing operation, while ESB repair crews try to restore power to up to 65,000 customers throughout the city and county who lost supply during yesterday's storm.

Met Éireann had issued a level red alert for Cork yesterday morning with winds due to hit Storm Force 11 along the southwest coast and the forecast proved correct as hurricane-force winds brought down hundreds of trees and power lines across the county.

Crews from Cork County Council were out trying to remove trees in the Cobh, Mallow, Fermoy, Kanturk, Bantry, Macroom and Skibbereen areas but at one point had to withdraw crews when it became too dangerous in gusting winds.

Trees fell all over the county but the impact was particularly severe in north Cork where several trees fell near Rathduff and Mourneabbey on the main Cork-Limerick road, causing five-mile tailbacks for traffic while an overturned truck near Buttevant added to the mayhem.

The N8, the main Cork-Dublin road, was closed just before 1pm when a high-sided truck was blown over by gale-force winds as it crossed the Fermoy flyover above the river Blackwater. The driver wasn’t injured, but the incident led to major traffic disruption.

A decision was taken to close both sides of the dual carriageway from Junction 14 at Moorepark, north of Fermoy, to Junction 15 at Corrin just south of Fermoy and diversions were put in place as a crane was brought in to remove the truck.

At Cork Airport, a total of 23 flights were affected with five inbound flights diverted to Shannon and a further nine cancelled. One outbound flight operated from Shannon and a further eight were cancelled while there was also damage caused to the terminal roof.

Up to 5,000 train passengers had their travel plans disrupted when Iarnród Éireann was forced to cancel both mainline services from Cork and Kerry to Dublin and commuter services from Cork to Cobh and Midleton.

Barry Kenny of Iarnród Éireann said the decision to halt services was taken at 1pm after the 11am Dublin-to-Cork service was forced to stop due to trees and other debris on the lines and because of trees down on the main Cork-Mallow road, bus transfers were not possible.

In UCC, a decision was taken to cancel all lectures from 3pm and send students home as concern grew for their safety when some trees on properties on nearby College Road fell.

A number of primary schools in the county also closed after suffering storm damage.

According to ESB Networks, 65,000 customers lost power, with west Cork bearing the brunt of the damage with about 35,000 customers left without power. Most of the problems were caused by falling trees in coastal regions of west Cork.

A further 18,000 customers in north Cork and 11,000 around the city also fell victim to fallen power lines.

Repair crews prioritised the making safe of fallen lines with repair work due to start today.

A number of motorists had lucky escapes with a woman crashing into a fallen tree near Halfway in west Cork while in Cork city, two motorists returned to Pope’s Quay to discover a tree had fallen and crushed their parked cars.

Meanwhile, in Ireland’s second tallest building, the 67-metre Cork County Hall, staff reported feeling the building swaying in the high winds.

“The building is designed to cater for high winds but it’s still a bit unnerving when you feel it starting to sway,” said one person.

Elsewhere in Cork city, more than 20 metres of roof were blown off the old dressing rooms at Cork Constitution rugby club at Temple Hill. No one was injured.