The sound of four days of silence in Spiddal was broken by a loud cacophony of burglar alarms across the village.
It was 4.30pm when ESB Networks engineer Peter Jeffreys reconnected a stretch of wire entangled in a gnarl of fallen trees on the seafront.
Burglar alarms started to sound, the traffic lights started working and lights came on in businesses and homes in the village. An Spiddal, which was a ghost town with every pub, shop and school closed, came to life at the flick of a switch.
Wild winter storms are an occupational hazard for those living along the west coast of Ireland. There’s a price to be paid for beauty.
This is the third time in as many months locals were left without electricity or water for a prolonged period of time. Storm Bert in November and Storm Darragh last month also hit Connemara very badly, but nothing like this.
[ Crews brought from EU countries to help ESB restore powerOpens in new window ]
Mr Jeffreys says the only comparable storm was on St Stephen’s Day 1998 (Storm Stephen). “That did a lot of damage. This has been definitely the worst I have seen. We are concentrating on the mainlines between electricity stations. We will get as much of that up as possible and then we will concentrate on the lower voltage jobs. We have crews coming from England to help. We are going to need them.”
In Spiddal the local Centra, which doubles as the Texaco garage, has been a lifeline for the village since Storm Éowyn broke in the early hours of Friday morning. It has a backup generator and it has become a magnet for people charging their phones or getting hot water from a tap next to the coffee machine.
Centra fresh food manager Richard McNicholas said they were able to open an hour after the red warning finished on Friday morning.
“We’re filling hot water bottles, we’re filling flasks of tea, we’re providing hot food, we are trying to help anybody. Since Friday we have been flat to the mat. It’s been crazy busy.”
While the return of electricity is good for those who live along the coast road, others are looking at their electricity being out for at least another week.
Aisling Ní Churraoin (17) and her sister Aifric (12) were walking the pier on Monday morning to kill time. They were told it might be February 5th before electricity is restored.
“We have nothing. We have no gas, we have no electricity or water, we have nowhere to cook a dinner. We are getting hot water at the local Centra.”
Locals are beginning to wonder about the future of living in a place where severe weather events are occurring with greater frequency and intensity. Their resilience has been tested many times already.
“It’s happened to us loads of times. We had to go into my parents to shower and they had no electricity either. We had to go into Galway city for food at the weekend ,” said Lettermore resident Caroline Úi Lochlainn who lives with her husband and three adult children.
“The house is freezing and it is hazard going up and down the stairs, but everybody is managing. During the snow we had no electricity or water either. It is very hard on those who have young children and babies who need that extra care.”
In the nearby village of Baile an Tsagairt (Ballintaggart) the roots of a giant cypress tree are lying vertical to the ground beside a house that narrowly escaped being hit by the fallen tree. The garage door to the house is bent and battered by the storm and the owners have left.
Local man Seán Ó Droighneáin said the trees had been around for as long as he can remember.
“I have never seen so much damage in all my lifetime not even with Hurricane Debbie (1961). It was nothing to do this. I went into Barna on Saturday morning. It was like Apocalypse Now. The trees around here tumbled like paper. We have no electricity for five days and I believe it will be some time yet.”
On the road to Moycullen near a wind farm, a caravan has been turned upside down and its contents strewn across the road as if it was a toy.
Locals say the caravan used to be occupied but had been abandoned for several weeks.
Several people come, not to look at it, but because for reasons unknown it is one of the places locally that can get a phone signal.
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