Storm Éowyn tracker: Waterford updates, closures and information

Met Éireann has issued a Status Red Weather Warning for all of Irelan with the public advised to heed to advice ahead of Storm Éowyn.

Public Transport services won't run, schools, creches, and colleges will be closed and employers are being urged to plan today for staff to work from home where possible.

The Status Red Wind warning for Waterford will be in effect from 02:00 am to 10:00 am Friday, January 24^thand will bring gale force winds with dangerous, damaging, and destructive gusts over 130km per hour.

A Status Orange Wind warning will be in place from midnight (00:00) to 16:00pm on Friday, January 24^thand a Status Yellow Rain warning will be in place from 21:00pm Thursday, January 23^rd to 05:00 am on Friday, January 24^th.

The electricity network is expected to be severely impacted. Homeless services operating in the city have advised of extra bed capacity in McGwire House.

Members of the public can contact Waterford Council's Customer Service Desks on 0818 10 20 20 from 9 am until 10 pm tomorrow.

Calls after this will be transferred to the emergency services number.

For the duration of the red weather warning, members of the public are advised not to travel and to stay indoors.

Below you can see the latest forecast for the island over the coming hours and check the predicted wind speeds in your area as the storm progresses.

The public is advised to stay away from coastal areas during this period. The Irish Coast Guard is appealing to people to “Stay Back, Stay High, Stay Dry”.

Education

Schools, creches, and higher education institutes such as colleges and universities in 26 counties are set to close this Friday in areas under a red warning.

Contact your relevant educational institutes for reopening times.

Healthcare

Most services across the HSE will be cancelled tomorrow (Friday) due to Storm Éowyn.

This includes:

all non-urgent hospital appointments
community clinics
daycare services for older people, people with disabilities, and mental health
home help visits
therapies at home
public health nurse visits

Critical emergency services will continue to run. This includes ambulance, emergency department, and prenatal care for pregnant mothers. Contact your service if you have concerns. Injury units will also remain open.

If you need urgent or emergency care

Emergency departments and injury units will remain open.

The HSE is advising to only go to an emergency department for serious illnesses and injuries, including life-threatening emergencies.

Dialysis, cancer, and time-critical care

The HSE will contact you if you are receiving urgent and specialist care, such as dialysis and cancer treatment.

Vulnerable people at home

Urgent care for vulnerable people at home will be prioritised.

Meanwhile, The National Ambulance Service has decided to halt all community-based first responder activities.

In a statement issued on social media, the NAS said "Once the red warning is lifted and we shift to an orange alert, we will evaluate the risks associated with our call-outs, considering factors like hazardous travel conditions, strong winds, and any fallen power lines or trees. The safety of our responders is our top priority. Please take care and check in on elderly and vulnerable neighbors".

Retail

The majority of supermarkets and shopping centres including Tesco, Supervalu, Lidl Aldi, and retail outlets including City Square will be closed early tomorrow morning, and open later in the afternoon depending on when the red warning expires in your area.

Please check your supermarket's social media channels for further updates.

Public Transport

All public transport including Irish Rail, Local Link, and Bus Eireann will not operate for the duration of the status red weather warning, with services aiming to resume in the afternoon.

Please check your relevant public transport provider's website as linked above for further info.

Workplaces

Advise from the Workplace Relations Commission states the following:

"In general, there is no statutory entitlement for an employee to be paid if they cannot attend work because of extreme weather. Any more beneficial arrangement is a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee".

Locally, it is understood that the majority of major workplaces across Waterford City and County are advising their staff to stay home during the red warning, with work-from-home options available.

Roads

Due to the severity of the oncoming storm and concern for the safety of road users and operatives on duty, the N25 New Ross Bypass (including Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge) will be closed from Glenmore roundabout to the R733 Junction from 11 pm this evening.

Reopening is subject to improvement of weather conditions tomorrow morning and will be advised as soon as possible.

During the closure, traffic will be diverted through New Ross town. For any concerns please contact Emergency number 1 800 98 90 90.

The Operator regrets any inconvenience caused to road users.”

Public amenities

All Library Branches including the My Open Library Service will be closed tomorrow Friday 24^th January.

Library Branches will Re-Open on Saturday 25^th January.

The majority of public amenities such as community centres and meeting places will be closed for the duration of the warning.

Air Travel

The weather system is expected to impact flights.

Dublin Airport says there's a strong potential for delays and cancellations as the storm hits.

DAA says they'll be monitoring the situation closely in the coming hours before decisions are made about flight curtailments or cancellations.

Cork Airport meanwhile issued a statement on social media advising people to check with their relevant airline.

Banking

In accordance with the advice from the National Emergency Coordination Group and to ensure the safety of customers and An Post staff, there will be no postal deliveries or collections this Friday, 24^th January. Post Offices will remain closed for the duration of the red warnings but will seek to reopen once it is safe to do so and conditions allow.

Subject to local road conditions and power supplies, An Post is planning to run Letter and Parcel deliveries nationwide on Saturday, and Post Offices will open as normal from 9 am – 1 pm.

All social welfare benefit payments usually payable at the Post Office on Friday will be available on Saturday and next week.

An Post will provide localised customer updates at anpost.com, social media, and radio channels on Friday.

It's understood several banking institutes will be closed, with Bank Of Ireland posting on their social media channels that they will remain closed on Frida,y January 24th.

Power outages

ESB Networks issued a statement saying they will attend to outages in a safe manner.

"ESB Networks crews will mobilise tomorrow, as soon as it is safe to do so, to assess the damage caused by Storm Éowyn, making the network safe, restoring electricity supply and switching customers back remotely where possible. Based on previous experience of similar windstorms, ESB Networks anticipates power restoration will take a significant number of days to complete. Given the predicted extent of the damage nationwide, estimated restoration times (ERTs) will only be provided once our teams have assessed network faults and these will then be available to view throughout Saturday on www.PowerCheck.ie."