Brosna in Co Kerry, where electricity and water may not be back until Friday, feels like “the forgotten village”, a nurse and local woman said on Wednesday.
Lisa Cox (52) told Radio Kerry that many in the village of Brosna were elderly but they have been without electricity and water since last Saturday. ESB Networks said some homes in the area may not have power restored until Friday.
On Tuesday a generator which was brought by Uisce Éireann to Brosna to reinstate the water supply broke down, and attempts were being made to install a second generator on Wednesday. People have resorted to melting snow to get water.
Dozens of Sitka spruce have fallen across power lines because of the snow and the village is cut off. Using a diesel generator Ms Cox managed to collect and charge people’s phones, and she and others were trying to deliver food and other essentials.
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Her husband, a paramedic, has to be collected each morning and taken to work in a four-wheel drive vehicle, and unless people have such vehicles they cannot get in or out of the village and surrounding areas. Local tractors each morning try to keep the roads clear.
The ESB’s offer of food and facilities in nearby hotels is not working as people cannot get to the hotels in Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West. “They should be bringing something to the villages,” said Ms Cox. “You are told not to travel.”
Meanwhile, Tipperary County Council staff worked to clear a water tanker that overturned in the village of Emly in west Tipperary early on Wednesday after compacted snow gave way beneath the unit.
A driver had delivered the tanker earlier for Uisce Éireann, and left it near the school in the village after disruption to the Galtee regional water scheme left locals without water.
Nobody was injured in the incident, but surprised locals in the village took photos of the overturned tanker, which they posted on social media platforms.
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