By Diarmaid Doherty
Crews from Donegal County Council and the ESB are out in force this morning as the clean-up begins in earnest after a night of heavy winds and rain across the county.
Thousands of homes and businesses are without power right around Donegal after the county felt the full force of Storm Darragh overnight.
The winds have eased this morning- but people are still urged to take care. ESB Networks say further power outages can be expected from potentially damaging gusts.
Donegal was one of six counties to be placed under a Red Wind Warning which ended at 3am this morning.
A Status Orange wind warning is in effect for the entire country until 10am.
There was heavy flooding in a number of areas around the county late last night and most people headed the advice of local authorities to stay indoors during the worst of the weather.
Community events were cancelled from early on Friday evening while a number of work groups postponed Christmas parties.
The Harry Blaney Bridge was closed and sporting events have also been impacted.
The Donegal Junior League have postponed all matches in the Saturday League today.
Many homes and businesses lost power overnight and ESB crews are working to restore power.
There are a host of power outages right around Donegal with customers affected in Inishowen (particularly Carndonagh and Buncrana), Milford/Ramelton, Lifford, Twin Towns, Creeslough, Dungloe, Mountcharles, Killybegs, Ballyshannon and Kilcar.
In some cases, homes may be without power for much of Saturday.
Motorists are advised to take care on the roads today with fallen trees, flooding and debris causing major issues.
Nationally, a total of 395,000 customers across the country remain without power as the storm passes through.
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