Lightning rather than wind and wave caused most weather damage on the west coast over the weekend as the intense depression forecast tracked eastwards across the island.
In Co Galway, a babysitter and three children escaped from a house fire, suspected to have been caused by a lightning strike in the attic, on Saturday night.None of the group was injured and damage to the house was limited. The blaze took several hours to extinguish.
In Co Down, 40 kayakers and several sailors who ignored severe weather forecasts had to be rescued in two separate emergency call-outs by lifeboat crews over the weekend.
The RNLI's Bangor inshore lifeboat was called out to rescue crews from a small fleet of dinghies which put to sea yesterday from Ballyholme Yacht Club.
"We had emergency 999 calls from people onshore and all the sailors are now safe and well," according to a spokeswoman for the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The agency said that inadequate rescue resources contributed to an emergency call-out on Saturday when 40 kayakers got into difficulties in Strangford Lough.
They were competing in a race from Portaferry to Ards Sailing Club on the north of the lough and were a third of the way across when three kayakers capsized. They were picked up by the Portaferry inshore lifeboat, which was providing escort.
However, the agency said that while the lifeboat was en route to shore, "further kayakers entered the water". Belfast Coast Guard decided to cancel the race and escort all of the group to safety.
Helicopters were tasked by the Irish Coast Guard and Kinloss Air Rescue Co-ordination Centre from Scotland as it emerged that five kayakers were unaccounted for. Portaferry coastguard rescue teams and the PSNI helped to ensure that all kayakers were recovered.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said there was confusion over numbers returned to shore and that no one was in the water for any length of time.
Belfast maritime rescue co-ordination centre watch manager Alan Pritchard said that several rescue boats which were meant to provide extra cover had developed engine failure, and this had left only the Portaferry RNLI as escort.
"This is not adequate resources for an event like this, and we would advise any kayakers going out in large groups to ensure they have sufficient safety cover should they run into difficulties," Mr Pritchard said.
Weather conditions should also be checked before departure, he emphasised.
Earlier on Saturday, up to 10,000 homes in south Connemara were without power, while areas of Kerry, Clare, Mayo and parts of the midlands were also affected.
The ESB said that lightning was the culprit in all cases and crews were able to restore power in south Connemara by about 3.30pm on Saturday. Other areas had power restored by 11.30pm on Saturday, he said.
Predictions by the Marine Institute of wave heights of up to 14 metres off the west coast did not quite materialise, but a peak height of 13 metres was recorded by the M6 buoy in the deep Atlantic on Saturday. By yesterday, the buoy was recording heights of 8.5 metres.
The M1 weather buoy located 40 nautical miles west-southwest of Slyne Head is not operational so could not yield data.
However, the M3 buoy off the southwest coast recorded 7.4 metre waves and wind gusts of up to 44 knots (nautical miles) yesterday.
Met Éireann is still warning of a heavy swell off Atlantic coasts and the weather is forecast to be very unsettled over the next week.
Strong west to northwest winds will back southwest and decrease fresh for a time, but later increase strong to gale force south to southwesterly tonight.
