Almost 200 engineers deployed to Northern Ireland following Storm Eowyn
Almost 200 engineers deployed to Northern Ireland following Storm Eowyn
Share:
Nearly 200 electricity engineers have been deployed to Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK to assist with the operation to restore power to customers following Storm Eowyn. The major storm on Friday led to hundreds of thousands of customers being left without electricity in the region.
By Tuesday, NIE Networks said 43,000 customers remain without power. The company has said it may be February 3 before power is restored to all homes. As part of the effort to help with repairing the network, engineers have arrived in Northern Ireland from across the UK.
Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy Networks Association, said: “As other network operators return to normal operations, additional staff and equipment are being freed up and sent from Scotland, England and Wales to Northern Ireland to support with the reconnection efforts there.
“This is in addition to more than 1,000 staff based locally at NIE Networks who have been working around the clock since the storm hit. “Nearly 200 staff have been redeployed to Northern Ireland to date, in addition to helicopters, drones, generators and replacement parts from stockpiles in other parts of the UK.
“More people and equipment are expected to be sent over today and later this week. “Everyone is working flat out to support and reconnect customers. “This is a huge team effort from every network operator across the UK, Ireland and further afield.”.
