Open doors to the powerless and waterless

The level of stress and frustration was palpable on Monday morning in Kilian’s Lodge Hotel which was serving as a community hub for those still without power, water and phone service in Mullagh.

There were several laptops out on tables, earphones in and heads down with many grateful to be able to open their inboxes for the first time since Friday.

Peter Smith is the Managing Director of Smith Vehicle Solutions based in Virginia, which delivers new tractors and new trucks across Ireland and other parts of Europe. Peter took all of his trucks off the road during the red alert times and for the rest of the day on Friday.

“We sent a message out on Thursday to tell them all to come back to base and get off the road for Friday.”

The business has been left to operate with no power, phone signal or internet since Friday morning and later that day, no water either at what was one of their busiest times. Two trucks due to come in from Germany on Friday were delayed, meaning the trucks had to be left in France while the drivers were flown to Dublin on Sunday morning to get them home.

“The Irish sea seems to be a problem,” Peter explained, adding that the two vehicles won’t be shipped back to Ireland until Wednesday.

“Now there’s talk of another storm coming,” he added, meaning further cancellations have been scheduled for January 29.

The storm has “hugely affected” his business.

Peter has been staying in Kilian’s Lodge since Friday where he has been dealing with the issues along with some of his team members.

“We’ve systems that we have to get on to in order to get the trucks moving and we couldn’t communicate with them really until now,” he said.

“It’s a disaster,” he added.

There was a “small bit” of damage to his home in Virginia with slates off the roof and trees down. All appliances at his home are “fully electric” meaning even a cup of tea was off the table.

“That’s going to change though,” he said, planning to switch to alternative options for the future.

They have been given two dates for the restoration of their power; January 31 or February 5.

A different tune

Alternative pop rock band singer and drummer Ria Rua was sitting with her partner and fellow band member Chris Schuette in the hotel. They were trying to get their band album sent to the mix engineer and get it out on the radio.

The pair became trapped in their Mullagh home as a result of Storm Éowyn in the early hours of Friday morning.

Six trees fell on their lane meaning they were “fully trapped” in their home until Saturday evening at 4pm.

“It was so bad,” remembered Ria.

“A massive tree was down, a 150-year-old plus tree fell and the fire brigade had to come and take it down.

“I was actually pretty scared because there’s trees around the house and I thought maybe it might fall on the house but thankfully it didn’t.”

With no food supplies, Ria and Chris had no other option but to heat soup on their stove and eat cold beans until they were able to get out.

“It took four hours to boil [the soup],” she said.

“I had some bread and I had some pancakes but we were in there for a full extra day.”

They went to Park Rí in Kells when they were eventually able to leave their home.

“The hot meal was the best thing we have ever had in our lives,” she described.

She has an issue with the ESB’s power check system, with so many faults in the area she’s not sure which one applies to her home, however she was keen to point out that “obviously the ESB [outdoor workers] are doing great work”.

During Storm Darragh, Ria’s broadband went out for 47 days and had only been restored five days before Storm Éowyn hit.

“Now we’re gone again,” she fumed.

“It’s difficult.

“Everyone finds it really hard at the moment no matter if you’re a musician or not with inflation and cost of living then this, I’m finding it hard to afford to eat basically.

“We rely so much on electricity; we have no back-up systems, we have no showers, no water, nothing.

“The only thing we have really is the fire.”

Radio silence

Meanwhile, her partner Chris had just gratefully received a hot cup of tea at the hub.

“We feel very isolated out here,” he said.

“Obviously there’s a water truck out there and this is set up but for days we weren’t even able to leave our house because there was trees on both sides of the road.”

“It’s cold and it’s dark and everything else but we have a fireplace we can use to stay warm, one of the rooms in our house is warm but we can’t cook, we have nothing to charge anything except the car.

“There’s no notion of when it’s [power] going to come back.

“Where is the government in all of this?” he asked, describing that he was shocked at what he feels was the “lack of response”.

“It is just radio silence,” he said, adding that he feels it is “every man for himself”.

“We have friends in Dublin and everything is fine in Dublin, it’s just like we don’t exist.”

Over at another table, Annette O’Reilly from Killinkere, Emma Garvey from Crossbane and Marie Smyth from Cross outlined how they have been coping since the storm.

Emma has a 10-month-old baby at home and described the difficulties trying to sterilise bottles with no power.

“It takes a long time to clean a bottle, sterilise a bottle, warm the milk, so yeah,” she said, outlining how she has been going to her parents’ home to use their gas stove.

Emma believes the area was affected “as bad” was anywhere else in Ireland.

“It was so bad, we had trees hitting the house,” she described, detailing that they took gutters down with them as they fell with slates also falling off the roof.

“They’ve a generator so they’re able to get a bit of water into the house at times throughout the day.”

Meanwhile Annette has had no power, water or heating since Friday and has received an estimation of February 5 for their restoration date.

“The hardest part these days is no fridge, I had to throw out everything from my fridge this morning and the freezer.

“That’s what I’m finding hard today, there’s something new every day.”

The storm was “very frightening” for Marie. Her shed was blown away by the storm but “lucky enough” everything inside was okay.

Cllr Shane P O’Reilly was among those gathered at Kilian’s Lodge where he was seeing and hearing how the storm impacted the area.

“Our biggest problem now is that we’ve no water,” he said, describing how the “Mullagh end” were without power for 12 hours, while the Cross side had power but lost it again. He paid compliment to the Chief Executive of Cavan County Council Eoin Doyle for the Community Hub initiative.

“These people have to work, the internet is down in about half the parish,” he said.

Also praising Cavan County Fire Service, Cllr O’Reilly claimed there is a “major problem” with “trees along roads” in the area.

“We have a serious problem with Coillte as well, they’re not managing what they’re meant to be managing and it’s nearly not their fault because we’ve no tree felling licenses.

“It all comes back to these things and there’s a palpable frustration in this village now today.”

“People are feeling very vulnerable,” he said.

To avoid such issues happening in the future, he suggested that Irish Water initiate a “full back up generator plan” for every pump station on the country.

Regarding the power situation, Cllr O’Reilly said he has been “fighting the case” for the North South Interconnector “for years about putting the lines underground”.

“This is where Coillte has to answer questions, where trees have been planted.

“I can tell you exactly where the problem is with the power in our area and they can’t get to it yet because it’s too dangerous.

“It’s at a Coillte property,” he contended.

“There needs to be a bit of understanding by the powers that be that, if Coillte need to cut 35 trees, well that there won’t be a hape of tree huggers down strapped to it.

“At the end of the day people need power, people need to work.”

Meanwhile all the frustrated and weary of the community were warmly welcomed to Kilian’s Lodge Hotel by owner Michael Farrelly.

“Not to have the power is a huge thing, water is a must and we’re just unfortunate here in Mullagh at the moment,” he said.

He opened his doors to the people as a “goodwill gesture”.

“There’s times when you make money, it’s business and there’s times when you just have to park that aside and get people through a difficult time.”

Hot tea, coffee and plates of biscuits were distributed around those in the hotel, while people were also free to drop in their devices to be charged. Those in need could also take a hot shower.

“We’re delighted to do it,” he said, adding that the hotel is “lucky enough” to have a supply of well water at the back of the premises. They also had a generator when the power was out.

“It’s a big premises and it’s great to have people coming in and out and using it.”

The hub has seen a “very busy” weekend with Monday morning the same, while lunch guests continued to flow into the hotel as The Anglo-Celt left.

“All the staff just rallied around and got through it and that’s what it’s all about - just people pulling together.”

“We got red warnings before, it was nothing to the level of this.

“At least the damage that is done here is repairable, we will get back to normal and there’s better days ahead.”