Flight disruption and thousands without electricity after Storm Boelo

Thousands of homes across the island of Ireland are without power after Storm Boelo.

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) said 7,000 customers have been affected, while about 41,000 homes, farms and businesses across the Republic of Ireland are without electricity on Sunday morning.

The worst impacted areas in Northern Ireland include Springfield in County Fermanagh and Bushmills in County Antrim, where more than 1,000 homes near each village are without power.

Flights have also been cancelled at Belfast City, Belfast International and Dublin Airports due to the storm.

An NIE spokesperson said high winds and severe weather conditions during Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday morning resulted in a "level of damage to the electricity network, leading to power outages for some customers".

NIE said customers can check estimated restoration times using its Powercheck tool, external.

A spokesperson for the Republic of Ireland's ESB Networks said properties in the north west of the country are primarily affected.

"As Met Éireann weather warnings remain in place, there may be further power outages this morning," they said.

Among the villages worst affected in the Republic of Ireland is Milford in County Donegal with more 1,600 homes without power and Aghagad in County Sligo with over 1,200 homes impacted.

ESB Networks said crews have been deployed to all impacted areas and they "expect the vast majority of impacted customers to have their supply restored by this evening".

A yellow weather warning for all of Northern Ireland is in place until midday while a yellow wind warning is also in place in County Donegal until 15:00 local time on Sunday.

At Belfast City Airport, flights departing to Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester and Kirkwall on Sunday morning have been cancelled.

Meanwhile, flights arriving from Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and Inverness have also been cancelled.

At Belfast International Airport, 17 flights have been cancelled this morning.

"Storm Boelo continues to cause some disruption to flights today. Please check with your airline for latest flight information as delays can be expected," a spokesperson said.

At Dublin Airport, strong winds continue to have an impact on flight operations on Sunday.

"Mainly due to weather issues in other countries, airlines have so far cancelled 12 inbound and 12 outbound flights," Graeme McQueen from the airport's operator daa has said.

He advised passengers to travel to the airport as normal and keep in contact with their airline, adding that further disruption is possible due to the wind warnings.

The Stena Line ferry sailings from Belfast to Cairnryan and Liverpool on Sunday morning have been cancelled.

Stena Line sailings from Cairnryan to Belfast have also been impacted.

The Stena Line sailing between Dublin and Holyhead has not been affected.

Sailings with P&O Ferries from Cairnryan and Larne at 08:00 and 12:00 on Sunday have also been cancelled due to the storm.

A number of roads across Northern Ireland have been closed due to fallen trees, the police have said.

The Springwell Road in Groomsport, County Down, is closed due to a fallen tree, while the Cootehall Road, Crawfordsburn, has been reduced to one lane due to another fallen tree.

The Ballyrobin Road in County Antrim and the Glenshane Road in County Londonderry have reopened after they were impassible earlier on Sunday morning.

An amber warning across parts of County Antrim and County Londonderry ended at 10:00 GMT on Sunday.

On Saturday, Northern Ireland's strongest gust of wind reached 78mph and was recorded in Orlock Head, County Down.

Magilligan in County Londonderry recorded 73mph and Castlederg in County Tyrone recorded a wind gust of 70mph.

Westerly winds will continue to gust close to 70mph in exposed coastal areas until well into the afternoon.

Generally, though winds will gradually ease through the afternoon with a significant reduction this evening.

An orange wind warning ended in County Donegal at 09:00 local time on Sunday.

On Saturday, Malin Head in Donegal had gusts of 83mph recorded.

The last 24 hours also brought notable amounts of rain with Castlederg and Lough Fea in the Sperrins recording almost 40mm.

Over 30mm has been recorded at Killylane in the Antrim Glens and 30mm at Stormont in Belfast.

Sunday is due to be a drier day but still very windy with some sunshine and occasional passing showers.

The disturbed weather pattern will continue into the half term week as another deep area of low pressure will bring more strong winds later on Monday and through to Tuesday.

The Met Office has issued a yellow wind warning across parts of Northern Ireland for this system which may be updated later on Sunday.

The second half of the new week, however, looks somewhat quieter, drier, and less windy.