Up to 20,000 households in the north and north west are without power today after an overnight storm.
The worst-affected area was Donegal where 10,000 to 15,000 homes in the Gweedore region and the Inishowen peninsula are still without electricity.
ESB crews are hoping to return power to the 20,000 households without power after last night's storm as soon as possible. Photograph: Pat Langan
Some 5,000 households outside Donegal, mainly in Sligo and Cavan were also affected.
The ESB said the outages were caused by high winds blowing trees and debris onto power lines and by lightening in some areas.
A spokesman for the company said it hoped to have power restored to all areas by this evening. The storms also left some 5,000 homes in Northern Ireland without power.
High winds and heavy rain also caused extensive damage to Eircom's telephone network leaving some 7,500 customers without a line, the company said today.
The worst hit areas were the north west, south west, Connacht and the Carlow, Kilkenny and Tipperary regions.
The company said over 6,000 faults have been reported in the last two days and that all its emergency crews have been deployed to assist the repair teams.
But it said that it may be next week before service can be restored to some customers.
AA Roadwatch today reported snow, black ice and flooding on many roads across the country.
Met Éireann forecast winds would decrease by the afternoon but that it would remain cold with temperatures getting no higher than four to eight degrees.
It also predicted there would be further rain for a time tomorrow, persistent and heavy at times in the east.
