Storm Éowyn Sheds Light on Poor Disaster Response Readiness
Aidan Ishan Raman Bogan
Staff Writer
The recent impact of Storm Éowyn on the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom has brought the quality of weather-resistant power infrastructure into question for both countries. The storm lasted from January 21 to January 27 and crossed much of the North Sea before dissipating, leaving hundreds of thousands to suffer power outages, while certain areas were damaged further by high winds and fallen trees. The areas which suffered the greatest effects of the storm were the northwestern counties of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and coastal Scotland, however many thousands of power outages were observed as far south as England and Wales, reports The Guardian. The precarious situation that people have been placed in by the storm has exposed potential weaknesses in national recovery efforts in the face of mounting weather damages and unforeseen changes in the climate. A majority of the public discourse has arisen from the slowness of national responses to mend the issues of vulnerable infrastructure in historically less connected regions, according to The Irish Times.
The disparity in recovery from the storm in Ireland between the different counties has incited criticism of the government for having ‘forgotten’ the northwest of the country. According to The Irish Times, there have been reports with certain areas being cut off from the water supply, internet connection, and signal access while the efforts to mend the situation are still underway. The Electric Supply Board (ESB Group), an Irish state-managed company, has required the support and assistance of foreign technicians from the rest of Europe in order to fully return communities to electricity. Even 10 days following the power outages caused by the storm, a purported 39,000 homes and properties were still without power, especially rural properties, which are less connected to the grid of the country. Despite the efforts of 2,500 ESB Group workers and partnered contractors, public dissatisfaction with the response to the problems of broken vital infrastructure in the most affected areas of the northwest has remained fierce.
As Ireland continues to recover from the storm, the mounting costs of the effort has left many local county politicians with few options. The more isolated and traditionally agricultural counties such as Donegal, Mayo, Longford, and Leitrim have historically lagged behind economically compared to more urban areas such as Cork and Dublin, compounding the harsh impact of the storm on these counties. Due to the wind damages on infrastructure, some communities are being forced to potentially cut back on public projects such as in the town of Lanesboro, where years of work to build a community sensory garden have been destroyed, leaving a €120,000 clean-up bill, according to the Irish Independent.
The disruption of normal life in Scotland by the storm was a shock to many commuters to the city of Glasgow as train lines were held back. As a consequence of the high winds, Network Rail Scotland reported nearly 400 incidents of damage, according to The Guardian. The struggle to clear rails has halted the return to business as usual in the country, as prevailing winds make it too dangerous for workers to carry out repairs to damaged poles and overhead lines, according to The New York Times. The faltering of both civil services from the government and power services of local companies has complicated the continued recovery in Scotland, especially for the more disadvantaged and disconnected communities in the Scottish Highlands as well as coastal towns in the southwest of the country.
Discussion in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the storm has brought the plan for the financial compensation of citizens who had lost power as a consequence of the tumultuous weather. According to BBC, the power services that were offered by companies that were disrupted by the high winds of the storm should not incur further charges on the customers as the electricity was unavailable to them. On top of the damages caused by the storm and the inability of many workers to commute to their jobs, financial relief may be the next step for recovery in the North. As new solutions such as these are proposed for the more systemic problems which Storm Éowyn has helped to expose, reflection on improvements yet to be made for preparation for drastic weather has been put forward by many academics. In Raidió Teilifís Éireann News, environmental scientist Dr. Tara Shine said, “We have the data, we had the data back then, but we weren’t adequately planning, acting, investing or learning at that time. I think Storm Éowyn shows us just how unprepared we are overall as a society for extreme weather events.” While national governments have wavered in their support of defensive measures against damages caused by drastic weather, public and academic dissatisfaction may cause changes in their approach toward these events.
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