Storm Éowyn

[laughs]

Because, like, if Storm Eowyn, wasn't it 800,000 houses were without power?

Well, yeah.

There's a-

So there's a lot of discussions that take place in the lead up to these named storms.

Once we feel like we're a pretty high confidence that it's going to be very impactful we'll issue a red warning which is what we saw with storm Eowyn and storm Dara last winter so we're two red warnings for those storms.

And then it's down to these discussions between the CCAs and devolved governments and so on to sort of decide whether they feel it's necessary, it would help with the messaging to push out these emergency alerts.

Obviously these are very new things in the UK and there have been a few tests in the last few years but they're very commonplace in other countries such as the US where they get severe weather arguably probably more frequently, things like tornadoes.

Me and mum.

Have you had a particularly memorable day at work?

I think Storm Eowyn was quite a significant event for the UK as a whole but also working in the team that we do.

It was something that was pinpointed at least a week in advance and then we gradually escalated our warnings as we got closer to the event and I was on shift for all of the days leading up to the actual event itself.

So that was an issue that they were worried about.

And the grid in parts of North Mayo is, is, is under strain, like we saw with, saw with Storm Éowyn last year.

Like, a lot of upgrades need to be made, but they need to be going in a way that's gonna safeguard the communities and existing businesses there.

But is that not hopeful then for, uh, people-

Lots of kind of frightening warnings have been issued around the kind of weather that we might be facing this winter.

And that particular part of the country was without electricity for quite some time when Storm Eowyn hit.

Like...

Is there any sign of improvement in the electricity grid, you know, what is it now, 18 months on from Storm A01? Given that we're talking about it being, we seem to be, you and I seem to be constantly talking about it being under pressure.

So it's not the problem there is not, you know, it's likely to blow down, you know, something underground.

The other reason why our electricity grid is under pressure is because it is exposed, because it is literally propped up by wooden poles, tens and tens of thousands of them.

And many of them came down during Storm Eowyn, as simple as that.

So there are those dual kind of issues.

both human-caused or natural ones as well.

Now, one of the groups who's going to help keep the country connected in the event, because we had that terrible blackout of Storm Eoin when mobiles didn't work and so on, are the Amateur Radio Emergency Network.

And one of them, the group's liaison officer, Conor O'Neill, is on the phone.

Conor, how are you doing?

That's up €64 million, more than 20% year on year.

It says it was due to the impact storm Éowyn had on its business last year.

Uh, ESB says its customer solutions business, which includes its retail brands like Electric Ireland, uh, saw its net profits fall in the period.

Uh, its energy trading division had its profits going up.

My father, ML, wanted to drop up.

So three fell during Storm Eowyn.

Yeah.

And my father has spent the last however many months since the storm cutting up, transporting this tree from down the field up to the yard and cutting it up into little bite-sized bits that can be used in stoves or fireplaces.

I'll give you another example of our failure to adapt.

Two years ago, storm Eowyn, huge damage, huge disruption to households all over the country, particularly in the west of Ireland.

One of the recommendations following that was we pass a law that ensures that along ESB lines, all the trees are cut back so they don't fall.

That law still hasn't been implemented, still hasn't been passed by the government.