Record wind gusts lash Ireland as storm hits

DUBLIN, Jan 25 (AFP): Ireland recorded its strongest-ever wind gusts on Friday as "destructive" Storm Eowyn barrelled in from the Atlantic, cutting power, grounding flights and shutting schools, officials said.

Ireland and Scotland were put on high alert ahead of Eowyn making landfall, with schools ordered to close and trains and flights cancelled as forecasters warned the storm could wreak havoc and destruction.

Tens of thousands of homes lost power on Friday, as gusts of 183 kilometres (114 miles) per hour were recorded early in the morning near the Galway coast in the west, the island's Met Eireann said on X.

The previous record, of 182 kilometres per hour, was recorded in 1945, it said.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill warned there was a "genuine threat to life and property", describing the region as currently being "in the eye of the storm".