Thousands without power this morning as Storm Callum hits Ireland overnight

Thousands of homes are without power this morning after Storm Callum brought very strong winds and heavy rain overnight.

Last night, gusts of wind were in excess of 110 km/h, with the western side of the country experiencing the strongest winds. ESB Networks is now reporting major outages and power faults in 9 counties which include Kilkenny, Mayo, Wexford, Kildare, Donegal, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Galway. According to reports from the RTÉ, The National Emergency Co-ordination Group is due to meet at around 9am to assess the situation. Met Eireann announced that weather warnings for the west and northwest coast would remain in place today until 5pm.

Wet and windy today with warnings in place for the west and northwest coast until 5pm. Elsewhere winds will ease steadily this morning. Spells of heavy rain clearing to scattered heavy showers. Temperatures 14 to 16 degrees. pic.twitter.com/NN3imNpETd

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) October 12, 2018

The Department of Education has asked all schools and education centres to remain vigilant and remain closed if they have any fears for child saftey. They issued a statement saying:

"In all events, and if in any doubt, schools should err on the side of caution. Schools are empowered to make closure decisions if, in their judgment in the interests of child safety, it is prudent to do so. "Any and all decisions about school closures will be informed by, as well as prevailing and predicted conditions, any damage that might have been caused to school buildings overnight or at any time during the storm, and whether such damage, - where it exists, - might present a risk to child safety."

You can read more on that here.