Vigilance prevents potential tragedy in Limerick during storm

QUICK-THINKING, vigilance and civic mindedness from a northside resident in the aftermath of Storm Hannah helped prevent a possible tragedy in the area.

On Saturday morning after storms had battered huge parts of Limerick, Pat Murphy of Kileely awoke to discover a tree had blown over at Donnellan’s Field and was resting on ESB wires.

“It had pulled the other poles down too. I felt I couldn’t leave this, especially with it being wet conditions. If kids came upon it, they might try and climb the tree. The transformer was only 100 yards away from it, so there must have been a lot of power going through,” Pat said.

The power going through the cables was approximately 20,000 volts, so Pat stood guard at the site until the ESB came on the scene.

“It was made safe. It would have been easy to ignore it, but it wouldn’t have been like me. I just had to wonder what might have happened if kids had come upon it. The first thing they would do is try to climb on it. If we’d found out later on something happened, you’d find it hard to live with,” Pat added.

The actions of Pat and fellow local resident Michael Quinlivan in guarding the field so no-one entered have been praised by Sinn Fein councillor John Costelloe.

He said: “These residents made sure no-one approached the area. Full marks to them for this. This area is frequented by children playing and a public walkway. We would have had a different scene there were it not for the vigilance of the community. Obviously, you can imagine a 20,000 volt cable would have been lethal.”

Storm Hannah brought with it gusts of up to 119km that upended trees through the city and county.

It left more than 1,800 homes across Limerick without power, due to the felled trees causing damage to electrical lines.

Bus services and flights were cancelled, while the Limerick Fire Service, ESB and council had a busy weekend assisting with a clean-up which swung into action Saturday morning.