Life in Ireland partially returns to normal after snowstorm

DUBLIN - Life in Ireland partially returned to normal on Monday after the country was hit by a massive snowstorm last week.

According to local media reports, public transport services -- including flights, buses, trams and trains -- resumed operations in many parts of the country on Monday though some of them on a limited basis.

Most of the schools in the country also reopened after being closed last Wednesday when the blizzard started to lash Ireland, initially from its east and south and later across the entire island.

Irish largest electricity supplier ESB said on Monday that power has been restored to most of the homes, farms and businesses which have suffered from power cuts in the snowstorm with only a few thousands of customers still waiting for the reconnection of power.

The number of affected customers in the country reached over 130,000 at peak time during the snowstorm, said ESB.

Water problem still needs to be addressed, said Irish Water, adding that the huge loss of water during the snowstorm will affect people in the coming weeks and even months.

The 1.2 million people live in the greater Dublin area will face either water stoppage or restriction of water use in the coming days, said the water supplier.

The loss of water mainly resulted from burst pipes and continuous running of taps by local residents at their homes in fear of freezing of their water pipes, it said. The company called local people to conserve water usage.

Pressure on medical services could increase in the near future instead of decreasing as many people could catch flu because of the cold snaps, said local health officials.

Prior to the snowstorm, over 100 people had died of flu during the current winter flu season in Ireland, which started a week before last Christmas, according to local health authorities.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Monday that several people were killed in road crashes during the snowstorm. He believed that more dead people could be found at their homes in the next few days due to the inaccessibility to many places in the country because of heavy accumulations of snow.

He said that it will take a couple of weeks before the cost of the storm damage can be assessed.