WORK WAS under way yesterday to repair four miles of power lines brought down in blizzards in Northern Ireland as 10,000 properties endured their third day without electricity.
More than 100,000 homes and businesses lost power after snow storms struck on Tuesday. Technicians involved in efforts to repair the electricity network have been shocked by the extent of the damage.
In Cloughmills, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) engineers are rebuilding 4½ miles of electricity lines, a task which includes replacing 60 electricity poles.
Specialist staff have been drafted in from Britain and 40 ESB crews are in the north to help in the repair work. Three helicopters are surveying damage and delivering materials to engineers.
NIE said it had been liaising with local council emergency planners to open community centres to provide heat and hot water for those in need.
Large areas of counties Tyrone, Derry and Antrim were lashed by blizzards, rain and winds on Tuesday. Up to 300 people had to be rescued from a mountain road.
Yesterday, police went to the aid of a family in the Plumbridge area of Tyrone who were running out of food and fuel in their snowed-in house.
Sergeant Stephen Creighton of Police Search and Rescue said: “I contacted northwest mountain rescue who sent out three Land Rovers. Our main concern was the young children in the house who would not have been able to make it through the snow, which was 8ft deep in places.
“The adults were able to make it to the Land Rovers. However we used the police helicopter to transfer the children from the house to their parents.” – (PA)