More than 715,000 Irish homes without electricity

More than 715,000 properties are without power in the Republic of Ireland as Storm Éowyn causes chaos across the island.

Gardaí (Irish police) are also investigating a possible weather link with a serious road incident in Donegal, near the border with Northern Ireland.

It happened on the N14, north of Lifford, near Ballinalecky Cross, but conditions were so dangerous that Gardaí were unable to attend the scene.

They are also warning people not to travel unless absolutely necessary as there may be fallen trees across the country as well as downed or damaged live electrical wires.

In Donegal alone, 86,000 households found themselves without electricity on Friday morning.

ESB Networks called the storm “record-breaking” and said it had never seen so many power outages in the country before with an extreme weather event.

He said electrical infrastructure was severely damaged, but their crews would only begin restoring power when it was safe to do so.

“Given the expected scale of damage nationwide, we expect restoration to take a significant number of days,” the ESB said.

A wind speed of 183 km/h caused by Storm Eowyn was recorded in the Republic of Ireland, the fastest since records began, Irish forecaster Met Éireann said.

Met Éireann said a gust of 183 km/h was recorded at Mace Head, Co Galway, on Friday at around 05:00 local time, just above the previous record of 182 km/h (113 mph) set in January 1945 in Foynes, County Limerick.

It also reported that the average wind speed record of 131 km/h (81 mph) set in 1945 at Foynes was broken during the storm, with up to 135 km/h (84 mph) at Mace Head at 04:00 , local time.