Longford sees massive community response in the aftermath of savage Storm Éowyn

Storm Éowyn left many people without power and water across the county. The unprecedented storm damaged houses and felled trees and crippled the ESB and Uisce Éireann in terms of the amount of repairs that are needed.

Aid has been sent from the UK, France and many other countries just to try and tackle the sheer mass of the damage that is still affecting many homes and businesses today.

Joe O’Brien is the Lanesboro correspondent for the Longford Leader. He was kind enough to discuss the difficulties the Lanesboro locals are currently facing as a result of the weather.

“Lanesboro has been hit very badly, there are still pockets of Lanesboro and Ballyleague, on both sides that are without electricity and water,” he said.

A water tank was brought into the town to provide for those without water.

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“The water tank was brought in thanks to Cllr Seán Mimnagh, the water tank wasn’t going to be brought here but for him.”

Joe highlighted the massive response from the community to the effects of the storm and the help that people are offering to those worse off.

“Everyone has done their bit,” He explained, “In a major way, straight away on Friday morning they were out clearing roads without being asked.”

This is a common theme across the county, community support has been at an all-time high, whether it be family resource centres and local hubs opening their doors to people in need or even just neighbours helping neighbours.

Just down the street from Joe’s shop in the town is the Lanesboro Library. Theresa O’Kelly the librarian there spoke about the community response and the emergency hub that was set up on the premises.

“We were really busy all day yesterday (Wednesday), we had people coming in looking for water, to charge their phones, to charge their laptops and to get on the computers.

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“There are a lot of people with no power and no water,” she said.

“It has quietened down, we had a few people in this morning, all of whom that came in said they were hoping the electricity would be back this evening.

“We did what we could, if people needed a cup of tea we gave it to them. Some people were very cold so we had tea and biscuits going all afternoon.”

Councillor Seán Mimnagh, as mentioned by Joe O’Brien, discussed how he has been helping for the past almost two weeks. He had been out checking on the older people in the area, especially those living alone.

“People are very resolute, older people especially,” he outlined. “They were under pressure with no water and no electricity.

“I went halfway to Roscommon on numerous occasions to get boiling water in flasks to bring to them just so they could have a cup of tea.

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“I tried to help them out as much as I could. I had the Gardaí ringing me on a couple of occasions just to go and check in on them.

“There were some people with medical issues there and we were trying to organise oxygen for them.”

Most of the power has been returned to the area however, there are still a few pockets that have been left without power.

The water has been returned to most houses as well as electricity.

“The ESB is back, the crews are flying it. I’ve been liaising with some of them there and they’re doing trojan work.”

Many experts have suggested that this storm is just the beginning, and thanks to climate change the country will be witnessing a lot more weather events on this scale.

Cllr Mimnagh agreed with this assessment. “I would be concerned, this storm is coming not long after the last. I had someone from Coillte down here at the North Commons Walk and the whole place is just flattened.

“Infrastructure at the moment is weak, power lines are hanging, slates are loose from roofs so if we get another storm or high winds untold damage is going to be done.”

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Gerard Farrell, former County Councillor saw the storm from a business owner's perspective. He runs his family’s pub Adie Farrell’s in Lanesboro.

“For us, it was tough because we lost three days and of course, we had to throw out everything. Our food had to be thrown out from the fridges.”

Mr Farrell continued, “I did try to get a generator, but they were all sold out, I tried the whole country but I couldn't get one.”

Once the premises got power back they let people charge their phones. “I’m involved in the community myself, I was out on Friday clearing trees that were down in our area.”

Friday and Saturday saw all businesses closed in Lanesboro.

There was a sense of cruel irony to the power outage in Lanesboro, while so many people struggled to heat their houses or wash their hair the abandoned Lanesboro Power Station loomed on the horizon.

With a massive chimney and many, many floors the building seemed to taunt the surrounding areas. “For a couple of days there you couldn't even get a pint of milk,” he said, “And we’re still staring up at this monstrosity of a power station (which ceased operating in 2020).”