SOUTH:Cork escaped the worst of the winter weather over the weekend in spite of icy conditions in both the city and county.
Gardaí in Cobh, Co Cork, were yesterday evening warning motorists of icy and potential treacherous conditions in hilly areas of the town.
The worst of the conditions in the county were in roads around Bantry, Bandon, Youghal and Midleton. Several early morning bus services were cancelled in west Cork on Saturday.
An interruption to the water supply occurred in the west of the county on Saturday night and consumers served by the Bantry High Level and Froe reservoirs were urged to conserve water until 8.30am yesterday.
Meanwhile, in response to demand, Cork City Council made salt/grit available to residents associations from last Friday afternoon. Locations included Knocknaheeny Avenue off Harbour View Road in the city’s northside and in the southside on Roads South Depot at Ravenscourt, Skehard Road.
Supplies are subject to availability of city council salt stocks and continuing cold weather. Continuation of this arrangement will be reviewed today. In the county the local authority has a total of 20 vehicles deployed in salting/gritting operations. Roads are being treated on a prioritised basis.
The most critical roads within the road network are being treated on a daily basis. These roads account for approximately 60 per cent of all traffic (including key public transport routes) and 80 per cent of all commercial traffic.
Olivia Kelleher
SOUTH WEST
Black ice made driving conditions dangerous on most roads in the southwest yesterday with the mid-Kerry region near Milltown very dangerous early yesterday.
Areas around Waterville in the south of the county were also poor and west Kerry was worst affected.
Kerry County Council issued warnings to motorists who were still attempting the Conor Pass. The high pass between Dingle and Tralee is the only one to be closed officially since the start of the bad weather spell.
The council warned that the road was extremely dangerous because ice was now falling from overhanging rocks. A council spokesman warned drivers not to attempt to drive it and said other roads to Dingle via Inch and Annascaul were open.
Anne Lucey
NORTH WEST
Black ice caused huge problems in the northwest yesterday as a thaw gave way to another hard freeze making road conditions treacherous.
Donegal County Council delayed gritting many roads until 10am yesterday morning after roads froze over on Saturday morning after they had been gritted.
Engineer Michael McGarvey appealed to motorists not to drive yesterday after dozens of minor collisions.
“We left it until later to go out and grit because we found roads were freezing again early on Saturday after we had treated them.
“We are conserving our stocks and mixing grit with salt which is effective in places but not as effective in others. We are asking people to take care and not to drive if it is not necessary,” he said.
In Sligo Town, the council worked around the clock to clear footpaths of compact ice and all are now passable with care.
In Leitrim, people were again being asked to conserve water with estimates that more than 100,000 extra gallons are being used each day because of leaks and running taps.
Stephen Maguire