Wild weather sweeps Ireland

Ireland issued further weather warnings for Friday, with flooding, strong winds, heavy rain and some snow forecast. A status orange wind warning came into effect on Friday morning and will be valid until Friday evening. "Further disruption is possible Friday as another Atlantic storm tracks over Ireland producing heavy precipitation and gales in places," weathermen warned. A status yellow wind warning has been issued for the south and east of Ireland, with gusts of 80-110km/h expected in coastal areas. A countrywide status yellow rainfall warning is in place, with rainfall of 30-45mm predicted in the 24-hour period from Friday morning. A snow ice-warning, also status yellow, has been issued for the north, northwest and west. It came into force on Friday morning, with snow accumulations of 3cm expected in places. The snow will turn to rain later on Friday. Meanwhile, state broadcaster RTE said crews from the country's power utility ESB Networks resumed work Friday morning to restore power to over 75,000 customers who are still without electricity following Thursday's storms. Since Thursday afternoon, power has been restored to over 185,000 customers. At the height of the storm, 260,000 customers were without power. ESB spokesperson Mike Fitzgerald was quoted as saying that over 2,000 staff were working in the field to restore service and that these were being supported by another 1,000 people including call centers, operations and management. Ireland's telecom Eircom said 85,000 customers are without a service Friday morning, adding that connections were restored for about 15,000 customers overnight. A spokesperson for the company says it is currently focused on fixing major faults to restore power to exchanges, and to help reconnect large numbers of people. The spokesperson said some of the more minor faults could take longer to fix. Eircom says it may take days or even weeks for some customers to be reconnected. RTE reported the River Shannon, Ireland's largest river, remains high but has stabilized over recent days. The river is predicted to rise over the next five days but to a level that will not cause flooding to the lowest-lying houses. Water levels in the River Shannon will continue to be kept under constant review.