12.15am: Belfast International Airport confirms there is “significant disruption to flights” on Friday, with many across the day cancelled. It’s a similar picture at Belfast City Airport, with the vast majority of flights scrapped until the late afternoon and into the evening.
4.00am: As Storm Éowyn makes landfall and begins battering Northern Ireland, thousands of properties across the country are already without power in the early hours of the morning. Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) confirm around 16,000 homes have no electricity as a result of the storm.
5.50am: The storm makes provisional history on the island of Ireland for sustained winds and gusts. Sustained winds of 85 mph are recorded at Mace Head in Galway, where gusts of 114 mph are also recorded, breaking the previous record set in Limerick back in 1945.
7.00am: The Met Office red weather alert officially comes into force, with warnings of “very strong winds”, “very dangerous conditions” and widespread disruption.
7.30am: NIE Networks confirm they have activated their “emergency plan” as they confirm “over 93,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland are off power”. “Due to high winds, and with a red weather warning in place, we are experiencing widespread damage to the electricity network,” a spokesperson confirms.
Meanwhile, the first light in the morning brings with it the first signs of overnight damage across Northern Ireland with a raft of fallen trees, power cables and other debris causing significant disruption on roads and streets around the country. There is disruption on the M2 motorway close to Antrim Area Hospital, with the road down to one lane as a result of a fallen tree. Lisburn’s Hillhall Road is also “closed completely” police confirm, as a result of “multiple fallen trees and power cables”.
9.46am: The Met Office issue another weather warning – this time for snow and ice. The yellow weather warning from the Met Office comes into force from 7pm yesterday until 10am today, with snow showers expected across the country and icy conditions on roads.
10.00am: The dangers of Storm Éowyn and flying debris are shown first hand, as video footage emerges on social media of a man in west Belfast having a lucky escape. The dramatic footage captured from a camera at the man’s house shows a falling roof tile narrowly missing him as he is out in his back garden attempting to secure a trampoline. After avoiding the tile – which smashes as it hits the ground – the man can be seen returning back inside the home.
Meanwhile, as people wake up across the country and survey the damage, images of broken fences and damaged houses start to flood social media as Storm Éowyn continues to wreak havoc.
10.30am: A mid morning update from the PSNI sees police confirming they have received “multiple reports of trees and branches blocking lanes across the motorway network”. A police spokesperson warns the public to “stay at home” and urges drivers not to attempt to get around impassable sections of the motorway.
A Glider stop in east Belfast destroyed as Storm Eowyn arrives in Northern Ireland on January 24, 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott)
10.45am: It isn’t just homes that have suffered as a result of the storm, as social media footage is shared showing the interior of an office building in Belfast’s docks area appearing ransacked due to the winds. Ceiling tiles are scattered everywhere throughout the floor of the building, the windows are shattered and furniture is strewn across the room. In Whiteabbey, images from the scene show a tree which has fallen through the roof of someone’s house and in Bangor, the roof of the city’s Aurora Leisure Centre is damaged, as the local MP Alex Easton shared a photo of the building structure laying across the grass.
11.00am: One of the more dramatic images of the morning emerges, starkly demonstrating the full force of the wind in Belfast. The side of an attic at a house in College Drive in the south of the city is completely exposed, as a pile of bricks and rubble are scattered along the street. Meanwhile local Green Party councillor Brian Smyth shares a picture showing a large fallen tree which has blocked the entrance to Cherryvale Park in the city.
The strongest winds since the Boxing Day storm of 1998 are provisionally recorded across Northern Ireland as of 11am. Killowen in Co Down records a gust of up to 92.2mph (148km/h), with Orlock Head recording gusts of 85.8mph (138km/h).
11.10am: As a result of the winds a hotel roof is blown off a building and lands outside Josper’s and the Chimney Corner hotel in Co Antrim.
11.20am: It’s not all damaged buildings and fallen trees, as BBC NI presenter Holly Hamilton shares with her followers that she is stuck in a broken-down lift in the broadcaster’s building. In an update later in the day she confirms she has been rescued.
11.30am: NIE Networks confirm they were dealing with around 240,000 customers across Northern Ireland who were without power as a result of the storm.
11.45am: The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service confirm they received 164 emergency calls since midnight, with firefighters attending 59 of the incidents.
12.20pm: Among the scores of trees felled by the wind across Northern Ireland, one on the east Belfast street Cyprus Avenue – made famous by Sir Van Morrison – crashed into a garden.
12.45pm: Translink confirm no rail services will operate for the rest of the day as a result of the storm, with some early Saturday morning services potentially affected.
2.00pm: The red weather warning for wind officially comes to an end and is replaced by an amber warning.
2.41pm: Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly sends a message of thanks for “all our frontline, emergency and essential workers”. “Risking their own safety during Storm Éowyn to work to support and protect others. Thank you,” she added.
3.00pm: NIE Networks confirm approximately 283,000 customers remain without power.
Residents survey damage to car and a fallen tree through the roof of a house during Storm Éowyn on January 24, 2025 in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim. Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
4.30pm: The PSNI confirm they dealt with around 2,000 calls throughout the day from members of the public. They also confirmed this figure represented 50% more calls than they would normally deal with on a typical Friday.
5.00pm: Translink confirm limited Metro and Glider services begin operating again in Belfast, with bus services from the city to Dublin including Dublin airport, Belfast International Airport and Belfast City Airport.
5.10pm: Belfast International Airport confirms the return of a “limited operation” for the rest of Friday following the decimation of their flight schedule throughout the rest of the day due to the storm.
5.30pm: NIE Networks confirm around 250,000 customers remain without power and estimate that returning full service for everyone in Northern Ireland could take as many as 10 days.
5.34pm: Northern Ireland’s First Minister offers her thanks for emergency services and frontline staff for responding to the storm. Michelle O’Neill described those staff as “the backbone of our response”.