Trains and some buses suspended as Storm Darragh hits Northern Ireland

Trains and some bus services in Northern Ireland have been suspended until further notice as Storm Darragh hit the island of Ireland.

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) said about 46,000 customers were without power on Saturday morning following a night of high winds.

A number of roads, including Castle Street in Belfast city centre, were closed on Saturday morning while clean up work was carried out after storm damage.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning to 9pm on Saturday.

Public transport company Translink said on social media: “Due to poor weather conditions all Goldliner services (including Dublin/@DublinAirport and @BelfastAirport buses) and rail services (including Enterprise services) are suspended until further notice.”

In the Republic of Ireland, almost 400,000 customers are without power.

The Belfast Christmas Market is not expected to open on Saturday, depending on weather conditions, with organisers saying they need to ensure visitors and traders are kept safe.

On Saturday morning NIE Networks said it estimated approximately 46,000 customers are without power, but added this number could continue to rise across the morning.

It said damage including broken overhead power lines, fallen trees across lines and broken poles will require repair work expected to continue into Sunday.

“Hundreds of extra staff have been brought in to help reinforce our normal capability,” a spokesperson said.

“Our incident management centre at Craigavon has been opened, as have our local incident centres which are in locations across Northern Ireland and used by our teams to co-ordinate our localised response.

“We have mobilised additional call agents to deal with any queries customers may have regarding the repair process in their area.

Any customers who lose power can report the fault online at nienetworks.co.uk or call the NIE Networks helpline on 03457 643 643. Regular updates will be posted to social media channels.