Power cuts caused by Storm Isha 'put disabled people at risk'

Power outages caused by Storm Isha left a disabled woman who relies on life-saving electrical equipment without electricity for 13 hours.

Michaela Hollywood told the BBC that without her generator she would not have been able to breathe and may not have made it through the night.

Storm Isha has caused electric outages, fallen trees and diverted flights in Northern Ireland on Sunday and Monday.

Wind gusts of 80mph (129km/h) were recorded in County Londonderry.

"As a disabled person, I rely on electricity to live, it's life saving and life maintaining," said Ms Hollywood, from Crossgar, County Down.

"It's an essential part of everyday life for me, as much as having a knife and fork is for an ordinary person.

"When we lose power, that all can go down the pan very quickly."

Ms Hollywood has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and uses specialist equipment to keep her alive.

She was without power overnight before it returned at about 13:00 GMT.

"I am incredibly lucky to have a generator - that is enough to power my equipment - so it gives a little bit of comfort for me, but that's not the case for others," she said.

"No electricity, that obviously puts my life at risk, as well as other disabled people across the United Kingdom, and unfortunately we've been left to make our own crisis plans to make sure our lives are protected.

"For me, it's always about prioritising my equipment and trying to not panic even though you have that deep-seeded feeling of panic, of what are we going to do if this goes wrong?

"It's that fear of maybe not being able to breathe, maybe having to pull an all nighter and not sleep, which is very real and very dangerous."

Colin Brown's house in Moyallen, County Armagh, narrowly escaped complete destruction after a tree fell into his kitchen.

The evergreen tree, that stood at about 60ft (18.28m) and was about 200 years old, could not withstand the heavy winds from Storm Isha.

"About nine o'clock (at night), me and the wife were just sitting and watching TV and there was a mighty crack and a bang and part of the kitchen ceiling had dropped in but because it was so dark outside I couldn't get out to see what had happened," he told BBC News NI.

"I put my head out the patio doors and there was just stuff flying about everywhere.

"A few minutes after that, the electric went off and I thought, 'right that's it, just get the wife and the son out'."

It wasn't until Monday morning that Mr Brown could see exactly what had happened.

"There's a large hole in the gable wall where the roof is obviously damaged but it's mostly foliage that's lying on top of the roof."

He added that his insurance gave him the go ahead to remove the tree and the Brown family are hopeful it will be a smooth process.

"The house is OK - we are in the house and we think we are safe enough," he said.

"We just have to live here and grin and bear it, but nobody was hurt and that's the main thing."

Cormac Kelly was hoping to get home to Dublin on Sunday but his flight from Copenhagen took over 12 hours - and he still isn't home.

Mr Kelly's flight attempted to land in Dublin, then diverted to Manchester were they waited on the runway for about five hours before attempting Dublin once more, then Belfast twice.

"It was a disaster - it was very scary," he said.

"Everyone was looking at each other. The lights were off. No-one knew what was going to happen as we tried to land."

The pilot was forced to abort the landing and the plane was sent back towards England, heading first for Newcastle and finally landing in Liverpool.

"Once we got off the plane and got into the airport, a lot of planes were redirected there, it was just carnage," he said.

"Everyone on the flight was asking each other, 'What do we do next?' Everyone had the same answer: 'I don't know'."

He is now in a hotel and has booked another flight home.