Hurricane Force Wind Recorded At Malin Head

Met Eireann has reported a hurricane force wind speed in Malin head recorded during the stormy weather that raged through Ireland in recent days.

According to their windspeed recordings on Tuesday morning, instruments recorded a provisional 10-minute Windspeed for Malin Head of 78mph, making it a Beaufort Scale 12, hurricane force, wind.

This exceeded the previous record for Malin Head of recorded December 26 in 1998.

Meanwhile, ESB Networks have said 500 homes are still without power and warned that some customers may be left without power until tomorrow, due to the gales.

Customers along the western seaboard, especially the northwest, are the worst affected.

Eircom has deployed additional crews to repair faults on its phone lines, saying it is dealing with almost 5,000 reported faults.

ESB corporate communications manager Brian Montayne said the northwest remains the worst affected today, but outages also occurred in the midlands and in Co Wexford.

The severe winds have also caused widespread disruption to transport and drivers have been warned about debris on the roads, including trees and household bins.

(DW/GK)