Cold fears for cystic fibrosis family among 65,000 still without power

1 day ago 17

Terri-Lee Watson A woman with blonde hair smiles into the camera, she is holding a young boy with blond hair.

'Worst-case scenario'

Ms Watson said the power cut, which began on Friday, was a "novelty" at the beginning, but now she is concerned the cold temperature will negatively affect her son.

"The coldness can be really detrimental to his health," she told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"A cold could sit on his chest and give him a chest infection."

The family spent Friday night in their own home, using blankets to stay warm, but have since moved out to stay with family members.

"We're just so lucky that we have got family up here, because there are so many people who will be stuck at home and have to just make do with what they have," she said.

"He's got a nebuliser to do every day. If he didn't do that, it could affect his health; he could get mucus build-up in his chest.

"It wouldn't just be a cold to him. It could be a nasty chest infection that could land him in the hospital.

"The one or two days that he has missed his nebuliser hopefully won't have an effect on his health, but if it were to go on for the full week, it definitely would, and we can't take that chance."

Ms Watson said she's had to do additional physiotherapy on her son to counteract the cold.

She told BBC News NI that she hopes NIE's estimate of 10 days to restore service is the "worst-case scenario".

"I'm hoping that there's a good chance that it comes on any day really, or any hour possible," she said.

Call for compensation

Getty Images A large part of a roof has been torn off from a hotel. Wooden beams are lying about from the roof to the ground.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the first and deputy first ministers said they had asked NIE to consider a "goodwill" payment form of compensation for customers who remain without electricity.

Michelle O'Neill said she had spoken to a woman who relied on takeaways to feed her family of three over the weekend because she had no cooking facilities.

"This is a difficult time for people – we're into day four [without electricity] for some," she said.

"We are pushing to get everybody connected as quickly as possible."

Emma Little-Pengelly added that it was "unacceptable" that some are still without power.

Speaking on Good Morning Ulster earlier on Monday, Little-Pengelly said about 100 roads are also still closed and she urged people to "exercise caution" when travelling.

About 1,700 people in Northern Ireland are still without water but NI Water has committed to try to secure the connection for those affected by 10:00 GMT on Monday, Little-Pengelly said.

Getty Images A person drives a car past fallen trees on a carriageway. A very large tree is lying across the road, blocking one side.

The managing director of NIE Networks said power has now been restored to 211,000 properties.

Derek Hynes said: "We believe that it will be around 10 days by the time we complete the repairs needed to get power back to everyone."

Ronan McKeown, NIE future networks director, said it's been "an extremely challenging situation" with their staff working "flat out".

Storm Herminia on Sunday also "pulled us back a bit in terms of more faults coming in," he said on Good Morning Ulster.

He said he expects about 40,000 of the 65,000 customers still without power to be "back on by Thursday at 10 o'clock".

"It's hard to be precise but our initial analysis at the minute is showing between 15 - 20,000 beyond Thursday," he said.

Getty Images A large tree is blocking a road. A man's back is turned away from the camera as he looks at the tree. Some cars are on the other side of the tree and are blocked from driving forward.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Hilary Benn, said the UK government will offer "every possible support" to the effort to repair damage.

"The scale of the damage brought by this storm is deeply concerning, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those working hard to restore electricity, clear fallen trees and debris, and keep people safe," he said.

Ten schools in Northern Ireland will be closed on Monday due to structural damage caused by Storm Éowyn, the education minister has said.

Paul Givan met with the Education Authority (EA) on Saturday and announced that some schools may need to move to remote learning.

The EA maintenance helpline has been operational throughout the weekend and received 154 reports of damage to school buildings.

It ranged in severity from missing roof tiles, fallen trees and serious structural damage.