Storm Darragh: Trees felled, travel disrupted, buildings and structures damaged in Derry and Donegal

At the height of the inclement weather on Saturday all rail services were suspended for a time.

Damage was caused to buildings and structures around the city and district while a number of trees succumbed to the high winds in St. Columb’s Park.

Even Lundy survived the flames this year during the Apprentice Boys’ 336th ‘Shutting of the Gates’ celebrations.

The traditional burning of an effigy of Colonel Robert Lundy in Bishop Street did not take place due to the severe weather.

Storm Darragh was a prolonged weather event which stretched from Friday at 3pm until 6am Sunday.

Damaging winds brought widespread disruption, affecting transport and electricity networks.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) confirmed on Monday that 1336 incidents were reported on roads, over 1000 of which were caused by fallen trees and branches. At its peak, over 48,000 homes were without power.

Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd said: “This is the third named storm of the season to fall across a weekend and I want to thank the multi-agency staff who have once again risen to the challenge and have worked together very effectively to keep the public safe.

"With over 1300 incidents across the road network during the storm and 48,000 homes without power at its peak, this has been a difficult period.

“When those who could were staying indoors, teams from my department were outside working in the atrocious weather conditions to keep people safe. Infrastructure staff were out on the ground all weekend monitoring river levels and removing accumulated material as well as clearing debris and trees off the roads to get all major routes open. I want to thank and pay tribute to them for doing so.

“I also want to commend all of the emergency services who have been to the forefront of the weekend’s operation keeping people safe in very difficult conditions.

"Thank you also to the Community Resilience Groups who were kept up to date with advance notice of severe weather warnings so that they were prepared and ready to respond in their communities. We will continue to work with other agencies as the clear up continues.”