One of the counties worst affected by the recent cold snap is Co Limerick with thousands of premises remaining without electricity for a fourth day in a row on Wednesday.
Among those impacted are the O’Dwyers in Drewscourt, Ballyagran, near the Co Cork border. They have been snowed in since Sunday. They shovelled 25cm from their front door and it has not thawed yet.
They have had no electricity and no central heating for four days, but they are making the best of it.
Lynda O’Dwyer, her husband Tom and their four children, aged between three and 14, have been using a camping gas stove in their holiday caravan and a solid fuel stove in the livingroom. They have been using the snow to keep milk and bread refrigerated.
“We are lucky to be able to do this. We have cooked with a camping stove top. A lot of families don’t have the any cooking options at the moment,” she said.
Their only heat is the stove in the livingroom. They tried all sleeping in the sitting room “but it wasn’t working”. Instead, each of their beds have two quilts, but still it was very cold overnight.
“We have taught our kids how to play card games, Cluedo and charades. We rely so much on technology, it has been great to show and teach our kids how to survive without it. It’s been tough as the evenings are long, but we are looking at the positives,” she says.
Katie Delaney, who lives in the picturesque village of Laragh in Co Wicklow, said they lost power for eight hours on Saturday following the first heavy fall of snow. They too made the best of it.
“We had to all huddle into the livingroom where there was a gas space heater to stay warm. The national school was closed on Monday, the bus wasn’t able to run, I couldn’t exit the estate for work,” she said.
“While all of these things seem inconvenient, it was also beautiful and peaceful in the mountains. Neighbours shovelling each other’s driveways, children sledding and building snowmen. What’s rare is wonderful.”
[ People in Kerry had to melt snow to get water supplies amid cold snapOpens in new window ]
Conchobhar Ó Crualaoí in Co Kerry got caught in a snowstorm between Bantry in west Cork and his home in Tralee, Co Kerry, on Sunday night.
“While we made slow progress back over the county bounds over Killarney, it was as we were leaving Killarney that the cars stopped moving. It turned out a truck had jackknifed farther ahead and the road had been closed,” he said.
“To the credit of the council, a snowplough and two tractors soon went past and eventually gardaí showed up to begin controlling traffic. This did not stop people from stupidly trying to jump the line of cars, nearly slipping into other cars or off the road in the process. Unfortunately, this delay took about two hours to solve, and we formed a convoy behind the plough to take us further forward to Farranfore, where many other cars and emergency vehicles were lined up.
“By the time we got home, the total journey time was about 6½ hours, in contrast with the usual time of about two hours. Thankfully, we had left early, as there were many stories of cars being abandoned and further snow along the county bounds. In hindsight, it probably would have been better to leave the day before or perhaps even earlier in the day than we did.”
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