District suffers its longest power cuts as snow restricts movement

District suffers its longest power cuts as snow restricts movement

27 March 2013 - by BY JOANNE FLEMING

ELECTRICAL failures and treacherous driving conditions were the problems faced by the majority of local residents over the past week’s unseasonable snowfall.

In all, 140,000 homes and businesses lost power at some stage across Northern Ireland but all customers are expected to be restored by today.

On Monday morning Northern Ireland Electricity employed a helicopter to access rural areas of Ballyward, Newcastle and Castlewellan still without power. Residents in Kilcoo and the Leitrim area of Castlewellan were among the 700 customers still without electricity on Monday afternoon and by that evening around 50 customers, mostly in the Kilcoo and Leitrim areas, were still without power.

Those who were off the grid were in mainly rural and exposed areas, where access has been hampered by difficult ground conditions.

In some areas, heavy snow drifts left driving difficult, and many motorists were forced to abandon their cars in the road. Driving conditions in Carryduff and rural areas of South Down, particularly around Dromara, remain difficult.

Sandbags were deployed in the Annsborough area on Friday by the Rivers Agency, following reports on Friday morning of flooding in Annsborough. The cleansing department of Down Council also sent teams to the area to clear drains.

Spa Pallet Service, of Ballynahinch, was one of the rural businesses trying to function without electricity or cleared roads over the weekend.

“The situation is not good, it is very bad,” said Sean McKay. “Our electricity was only back on yesterday. In terms of access it has been difficult to get in or out. We just had to get on with it.

“Thankfully it came on Friday evening and at least most of the deliveries had been done. On Saturday and Sunday we just had to keep going.

“The Guinness Road was completely blocked with snow and now it has just frozen. There was four feet of snow on the road and I was trying to get the council to get somebody out.”

Yesterday St Malachy’s Primary School, Kilcoo, Christ the King Primary School, Drumaness and St. Malachy’s High School in Castlewellan remained closed.

The PSNI said officers throughout C District had responded to over 128 calls for help and would continue to carry out welfare calls to as many farmers and elderly residents as possible.