Ophelia Fallout: Urgent appeal for blood while Councils prepare for another storm



There is now an urgent appeal for blood after clinics had to be cancelled due to yesterday’s storm.

People are also facing a delay in accessing health and social care services due to a backlog from yesterday,

And while the clean-up operation continues around the country, Councils here are also keeping a close eye on another storm expected to hit the area this weekend.

The Blood Transfusion Service says blood stocks are significantly down and it’s appealing to people to turn out when it comes to the region this week.

It had to cancel a planned visit to Donegal earlier this week and it has now rescheduled clinics with blood donors urged to come to the Abbey Hotel in Donegal Town tomorrow between 6pm and 9:30pm.

On Thursday, it will be in The Tara Hotel in Killybegs between 2:30pm and 5pm and from 7pm to 9:30pm.

The service will also be seeking blood donations in Ballyshannon on November 2nd.

Blood Transfusion Service Operations Director Paul McKinney says people can find out when the service will be in their areas by checking the service’s website.

For now, he is hoping for a much-needed good turnout in Donegal and Killybegs tomorrow and Thursday.

There was a significant impact on the vast majority of health and social care services across the country yesterday as well.

The Community Health Organisation 1 looks after the Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal area and it says normal services have resumed but due to cancelled appointments over the past 24 hours, people can expect some delays in their appointments and discharges from hospitals over the next few days.

In the event of a cancellation, people will be contacted by the relevant service and their appointment will be rescheduled as quickly as possible.

The ESB is working to restore power to more than 300 homes in the North West.

People still remain without power in parts of Sligo, south Leitrim and north Donegal.

But power has now been restored to most homes in the Bundoran area.

Meanwhile the Councils are now preparing for Storm Brian which is expected to arrive in our vicinity this weekend.

However the brunt of it will make landfall in the UK and not here and Met Eireann says it will not be as serious as Ophelia.

However, Director of Services with Sligo County Council Tom Kilfeather says that many trees and some structures may have been weakend by yesterday’s events and Councils will continue to assess the situation over the coming days:

Crews in Sligo were called out to 20 incidents while those in Leitrim attended 22 incidents while Donegal County Council has confimed that there were no major incidents.

Councils have also paid tribute to their roads and engineering and their communications teams in keeping people informed.



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