Young families and the elderly in areas hardest hit by Storm Éowyn are continuing to struggle without electricity – five days on.
One woman, who lives between Armagh and Killylea, says her electricity has been down since 5am on Friday morning.
Alongside her family, she lives with her grandmother, whose in her 90s and requires refrigerated medication.
She explained: “We actually had to get her medication to her daughter’s house in town because we have no heating or electric.
“She has a gas hob, so we can boil water, but other than that we can’t shower. We had to go to other family members’ houses to get the kids washed for school and us for work.
“It’s been quite disruptive. Because of where we live in the country, we are very rural, so it’s not easy to get in to a shop.
“In the shops there was hardly any bread or anything on the shelves. It was crazy.”
The woman, who spoke to us on her lunch break at work, said there has been difficulty with no service or internet – meaning she has missed out on vital updates.
“Because everything is online now, we couldn’t get it unless we went into town, so we actually ended up going to the Armagh City Hotel on Saturday evening.
“There were a lot of people with suitcases booking into the rooms on Friday and Saturday night because there’s so many people without electric.
“The kids’ bedrooms are freezing and everyone is going to bed with extra layers to try to keep warm. Then we’re going around by candlelight.”
The family have been told that electricity may not be restored until Thursday.
“That’ll be almost a full week with no electricity and no heating,” she continued. “Some of the shops were even out of coal so it’s obviously hit a lot of people very hard.
“You don’t realise how much it’s going to impact you. People can usually cope for one to two days but when you’re at the end of day four and five, you kind of are a bit lost.”
Meanwhile, for some, the return of school has offered respite, but for one young Aghagallon woman, the storm has left a lasting impact.
Colleen Magee and her family have been without electric from 7am Friday morning.
“I missed a big maths exam in college on Monday because of the power outages,” she explained. “I have coursework due for this week and can’t even get that done.
“My parents had to pay £200 for a second hand generator off Facebook Marketplace because everywhere in Ireland is sold out of them. Then they had to go pay for a gas stove just to cook dinner.
“We are all sick of take aways and can’t be affording to buy them every day either, while paying a fortune for petrol to run the generator and gas tanks for the stove.”
She added: “All the food in fridge and freezer had to be thrown out, the house is absolutely freezing; I can’t get a bit of heat into me at all. It’s an absolute nightmare.”
Colleen’s family have been given a restoration date of February 3.
“I’ve already got a panic disorder and really bad anxiety so it’s not that bit of news is not great.”
Colleen will now have to wait until May to re-sot the exam. I already really struggle with maths and I will now have to get an extension on my coursework as I am unable to do it while the power is out.”
Elsewhere, one woman – whose parents are in their 80s – spoke of their living nightmare; one similar to many pensioners left reeling in the aftermath of the storm.
“My dad has mobility issues which is why he won’t move to my brother’s house, she said.
“Thankfully they have a gas stove in an outside room so this means my mum is going out there to cook; thankfully my sister has just finished her chemotherapy and can go up to them during the day to cook and fill flasks and make sure they are okay, as there is no house phone and they have older mobiles with no coverage.”
However, when the children aren’t there, the couple are completely alone.
Fortunately, soon after speaking to Armagh I, the woman informed us that her parents had their power restored – with the heating back on and new mobile phones on the way.
Speaking at Monday night’s monthly ABC Council meeting – Alderman Gareth Wilson – said that Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) must compensate households and businesses impacted by the lengthy power supply outages.
The ABC Councillor said he has spoken to a variety of people who had lost contents of freezers, fridges and had other expenses to cover due to being without power for a long period.
Alderman Wilson said: “Firstly I want to acknowledge the massive repair operation that is ongoing by NIE field operators and other support agencies in restoring power to thousands of homes in the district. The engineers are doing an impressive job in challenging conditions and we are grateful for their efforts at this very demanding time.
“It is an expectation amongst customers of NIE who have had to dump food from freezers and have lost other items due to the length of time they have been without supply, that some gesture by Northern Ireland Electricity will be forthcoming for consumers.
“In conversations I had with NIE it became apparent that compensation was not something being planned by the company, which I find concerning from a consumer perspective. People are rightly looking at their quarterly bills or the speed at which their key pad meters trickle down to zero and then asking the question why, when they have been so long without supply and some continue to be without supply, some type of reduction or credit would not be issued by NIE to mitigate the losses experienced.”
He concluded: “I would urge NIE to reconsider their stance on this issue and I would urge them to issue some form of gesture to consumers given the expense of electric for consumers in every day life.”
