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Power restored to majority, NIE Power restored to all homes: NIE
(about 20 hours later)
The majority of homes left without electricity following Saturday's storm have had their power restored, Northern Ireland Electricity have said. All homes which suffered power cuts following Saturday's storm have had their supplies restored, Northern Ireland Electricity has said.
On Sunday evening NIE field staff were still repairing broken lines in order to restore power to 400 homes in the eastern part of Northern Ireland. On Sunday evening NIE field staff repaired broken lines in order to restore power to 100 homes in the eastern part of Northern Ireland.
The areas worst affected by the weather were Craigavon, Downpatrick, Bangor and east Antrim. At the height of the problem 40,000 homes were without power in Craigavon, Downpatrick, Bangor and east Antrim.
About 400 NIE staff were involved in the mobilisation to repair faults. About 400 NIE staff were involved in the work to repair faults.
The majority of the 40,000 homes affected by the gales had power restored on Saturday with NIE linesmen and engineers working late into the night. NIE's Sara McClintock said winds of over 70 mph made the repair job difficult.
A spokesperson from NIE said they would continue to monitor the poor weather. "Crews had to go out in very difficult conditions," she said.
"Our duty incidents teams will remain on stand-by. Staff continue to work hard to carry out repairs and restore customers as quickly as possible," he said. "They had to wait until the winds abated before climbing poles and fixing lines."
"Hundreds of engineers, linesmen, call handlers and admin staff worked through the weekend to keep customer inconvenience to a minimum."