Gallery: Country left counting cost of Storm Eleanor
BySuzanne McGonagle and PA
A MAJOR clear-up operation was continuing last night after Storm Eleanor unleashed violent winds of up to 100mph.
Homes and businesses were left counting the cost after gales tore a destructive trail across many parts and plunged thousands of homes into darkness.
More than 25,000 customers in the north were without power as the Atlantic storm swept in, destroying property and damaging the road network.
The winds ripped off part of the roof of a building owned by Harland and Wolff in east Belfast and fallen trees and power lines blocked several routes.
Among those affected was Belfast man Simon Irwin, who described how a tree landed on his partner's car outside their Belfast home.
Mr Irwin was inside the property in Chippendale Court, close to Finaghy Road South, when the large 'protected tree' fell.
"My partner was out at netball and I was sitting in the living room when I heard the bang," he said.
"I thought it was thunder and lightning to be honest and was only when I looked outside I saw what had happened.
"It could have killed somebody, no doubt about it.
"It also knocked off some of my roof tiles and the rain was coming in. But it could have so much worse."
Ulster Unionist assembly member John Stewart was also among those caught up in Storm Eleanor, with flying roof tiles smashing into his car in Carrickfergus.
"Just lost the rear window of my car to flying roof tiles. Please be so careful out there tonight and take any safety precautions you can," he said.
"Thankfully no-one was about at the time, could have been a lot worse."
With high winds gusting across the north, among the buildings to be damaged was a factory owned by Harland and Wolff, with a large chunk of the roof ripped off.
The mammoth mobile building was not in use at the time and a spokesman said the damage affected the outer skin of the roof.
More than 25,000 customers in the north were without power as the storm took hold on Tuesday. NIE said the vast majority were reconnected by yesterday afternoon as engineers continued to repair damage throughout the day.
Les Drew from NIE said the storm caused significant damage to trees, affecting overhead power lines.
Wind gusted to 70 or 80mph and Mr Drew said staff had to work in atrocious and dangerous conditions to repair poles and lines.
In Derry, the lower deck of the Craigavon Bridge and the Duke Street underpass were affected by flooding, while all ferry sailings between Rathlin and Ballycastle were cancelled.
South of the border, around 55,000 properties suffered power outages with the worst affected counties including Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan.
Met Eireann issued its second highest alert forecast and high waves battered the coastline, causing widespread flooding.
Pictures from Galway on Tuesday showed cars ploughing through high water and business owners struggling to protect their properties.
Rescuers waded through knee-high water with flooding also hitting Salthill, Oranmore and Clarinbridge.
Cork City Council last night warned of a risk of flooding in parts of the city centre with high tides and potentially high winds expected.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group in the Republic met to review the situation.
There was also significant disruption across England, Scotland and Wales with falling trees causing minor injuries, road closures and delays on public transport.
Police in east Sussex recovered a body from the sea near Splash Point in Seaford. The remains were spotted in the water at around 8am yesterday.
Scottish and English provider SSE restored power to 18,000 homes after outages and there was significant coastal flooding in Scotland.
A pregnant woman who had gone into labour early was also flown to hospital by helicopter as the storm began whipping across mid-Wales.
Despite powerful winds, the expectant mother was collected from a makeshift landing site at the coastal town of Tywyn on Tuesday evening by the coastguard helicopter and rushed to a neonatal unit in Rhyl, more than 60 miles away.