Storm Éowyn brought record breaking winds to Ireland

Storm Éowyn brought record breaking wind speeds at several weather stations in the Republic of Ireland, the Irish meteorological service Met Éireann has revealed.

Two stations, in Ceann Mhása (Mace Head), County Galway and Malin Head, County Donegal, recorded average wind speeds that reached hurricane force 12 on the Beaufort scale.

Met Éireann said the highest gust was 114mph (184km/h) in County Galway and County Donegal, with sustained 10 minute average speeds maxing out at 88mph (142km/h).

The storm resulted in red weather warnings being issued for much of the UK and Ireland, with high winds causing damage to the power grid leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity in Northern Ireland.

Met Éireann said Storm Éowyn "went through explosive cyclogenesis as it approached Ireland from the southwest".

The service said that on Thursday 23 January the storm "reached peak intensity as it brushed the northwest coast of Ireland".

Storm Éowyn resulted in the Met Office issuing its first ever red weather warning for Northern Ireland and Scotland, warning that conditions may cause a "danger to life".

A number of businesses remained closed on Friday 24 January until the red weather warning was lifted, including supermarkets Lidl, Tesco and Sainsbury's.

Schools were also advised to close for the day.

In total 285,000 households and businesses lost power during the storm.

At the peak of the disruption, more than 200,000 customers were affected by power cuts.

Northern Ireland's public transport service provider Translink cancelled all bus and train services during the red alert.

Translink's Director of Service Operations, Ian Campbell, said at the time: "We have already identified there are several railway lines blocked with fallen trees and debris that will need removed."

One person was killed after a tree fell on his car in Co Donegal.

Kacper Dudek was travelling on the N14, near Ballinalecky Cross when the incident happened.

Some customers are still waiting to have internet and phone connectivity restored.

BBC News NI has seen a message from broadband provider Fibrus telling a customer that service in their area will be restored by 17 February.

As of Monday this week Fibrus had about 6,000 customers out of service due to confirmed fibre faults.

It said assessing timelines was challenging "given the dependencies on other providers" but all remaining customers were being given a timeframe.

DUP assembly member Deborah Erskine said five telecoms masts had been destroyed during last month's storm.