Limerick City and County Council (LCCC) has established an incident control room to ensure a co-ordinated response to incidents arising from Storm Éowyn.
The Council’s Crisis Management Team met today as preparations for the destructive storm continue.
The public can call 061 556000 at any time to report fallen trees, blocked roads or similar issues caused by the severe winter storm.
Continue to call 999 or 112 for threat to life and other emergencies.
The Status Red level warning for wind will be in effect for Limerick from 2am to 10am Friday morning with gusts potentially exceeding 130 km/h.
Impacts from Storm Éowyn are expected to include danger to life and property, extremely dangerous travelling conditions, power and communications outages and coastal flooding.
The advice is to shelter in place. Do not take chances that put yourself or others at risk.
A Status Orange warning for wind will remain in effect for Limerick until 4pm on Friday with stormy conditions to persist into Friday evening.
People are being urged to show patience as the clearing of fallen trees and other debris will not begin until weather conditions are deemed to be safe.
Limerick City and County Council advises:
- Check on supplies of vital medications
- Secure anything that could blow away such as garden furniture, trampolines, flower pots etc as these could be turned into missiles in the wind. Take them indoors if possible.
- Don’t leave wheelie bins outside on footpaths or at front of houses.
- Be prepared for services to be out , charge mobile phones, have torches on standby with spare batteries.
- Don't leave candles unattended – they are a fire hazard.
- Don't make unnecessary journeys.
- Check on your neighbours, especially if they are elderly or vulnerable.
- Where possible bring your pets inside.
Flood Risk
We are currently in a period of neap (moderate) tides and the discharge at Parteen Weir is low. This mitigates the risk of flooding, however Storm Éowyn will create a storm surge of up to 2.2m and some overtopping should be expected even where there are barriers.
All flood barriers are in place in Limerick City and Foynes Port. Sandbags have been put in place to protect vulnerable properties in Askeaton.
High tides are at 1am and 1.30pm on Friday.
Water Safety Ireland is urging the public to stay away from waterways during Storm Éowyn,
Please remember: staying away from waterways is the safest option for you and your loved ones.
Council and Fire Service Response
All calls received to Limerick City and County Council on 061 556000 and calls received by Limerick Fire and Rescue Service through the Munster Regional Control Centre will be dynamically assessed to determine response.
Limerick City and County Council crews will not mobilise during the red alert and even after that period will only respond when safe.
Limerick Fire and Rescue Service will only be responding to calls where there is a risk to life for the duration of the red level warning. Fire crews are on standby and crews have been stationed in the retained stations across the county.
Limerick Civil Defence are standing by ready to provide humanitarian assistance.
Homeless Services
Outreach teams from the Limerick City and County Council Homeless Action Team have been making contact with known rough sleepers to encourage them to take shelter.
Additional beds are available during this storm event.
The Limerick Homeless Action Team can be contacted at Homeless@limerick.ie or call 061 557051 or 1800 606060 (out of hours).
People may also present at the Temporary Emergency Provision (TEP) at Edenvilla, Lord Edward Street at 9pm. This out of hours service is operated by NOVAS in collaboration with the Limerick Homeless Action Team.
There is sufficient accommodation to meet demand.
More info: Homeless Services | Limerick.ie
Closures
All Limerick City and County Council offices across Limerick will be closed to the public tomorrow, Friday and will reopen on Monday at 9 a.m.
Where possible, staff will work remotely. Contact 061 556000 or email customerservices@Limerick.ie
Note: Services may be impacted by power and communications network outages.
Stay Informed
Limerick City and County Council will be providing updates online at Limerick.ie/eowyn or follow Limerick City and County Council on X and Instagram.
Sign up to MapAlerter for information specific to your locality.
For weather updates visit the Met Éireann website.
The Warning from Met Éireann
Storm Éowyn: Gale to storm force southerly winds becoming westerly with extreme, damaging and destructive gusts in excess of 130km/h
Impacts:
- Danger to life
- Extremely dangerous travelling conditions
- Unsafe working conditions
- Disruption and cancellations to transport
- Many fallen trees
- Significant and widespread power outages
- Impacts to communications networks
- Cancellation of event
- Structural damage
- Wave overtopping
- Coastal flooding in low-lying and exposed areas
Key Advisories
- During the Red Level wind warnings, the public are advised to shelter in place. The public are advised not to travel, during the Red Warnings.
- Orange warnings; the public are advised to limit travel to essential in areas where an orange level warning is in place. Essential services operators will continue to operate services subject to advice from Met Éireann on prevailing local conditions.
- The forecasted winds have the capacity to bring severe, destructive and damaging winds which will constitute a risk to life and property.
- High seas; the public are advised to stay away from coastal areas during this period. The Irish Coast Guard are appealing to people to “Stay Back, Stay High, Stay Dry”.
- There is a potential for tidal flooding in coastal areas. In addition to this, Storm Éowyn may also bring localised heavy showers, which in turn may lead to localised flooding.
- The Electricity network is expected to be severely impacted, the public are advised to prepare for the arrival of the storm including ensuring their mobile phone is fully charged to enable communication.
- Monitor Met Éireann forecasts and/or visit https://www.met.ie/ for the most up to date information. Information is available across social media platforms and other news media sources.
- ESB Networks is highlighting the dangers posed by fallen live wires and is advising the public and the emergency services to stay away from these fallen cables and to report such cases to it immediately. ESB Emergency Services can be contacted at 1800 372 999. The public can monitor www.PowerCheck.ie. In regards to power restoration times.
- Uisce Éireann customers can check the website and social media channels for updates and to get in touch with any issues or concerns via their 24/7 customer care centre at 1800 278 278. The public can also sign up online to their free text alert system to get regular updates about their local supplies - see www.water.ie.”
- Gas Networks Ireland can be contacted on 1850 20 50 50