LAST UPDATE | 12 Aug

THOUSANDS ARE WITHOUT power after lightning strikes across the west last night.

Some of the heaviest lightning was seen at 1am, with videos on social media showing dozens of bolts throughout the early hours.

As of 12pm, 20,000 homes homes, farms and businesses remain without power according to the ESB.

Its crews are out this morning to restore power and repair damage to the infrastructure in areas which have been impacted by lightning-related outages, particularly in parts of the midlands, west, north-west and south-west.

#lightning #thunder #Ireland #storm #Limerick #LightningStorm @CarlowWeather pic.twitter.com/P1zkqy6vkP

— Irish Red (@jamespious14) August 11, 2024

Real-time updates are available on the ESB Power Check here and our crews will continue to respond to outages as they arise as quickly and safely as possible.

“We would like to take this opportunity to remind the public to always call us immediately on 1800 372 999 in the event of damage to any part of our infrastructure,” an ESB spokesperson said.

“We apologise to all customers impacted for the obvious inconvenience caused.”

The outages correspond with Met Éireann’s rainfall radar for 1am last night.

Met Éireann had forecast thundery downpours and heavy rain in a weather alert published yesterday.