Storm Bram swept through Ireland on Tuesday December 9, wreaking havoc with power outages and flooding across the country.

Laois County Council confirmed with the Leinster Express / Laois Live that Laois Fire and Rescue Service undertook 25 callouts to fallen trees across the county on Tuesday, attending to the trees as they were reported.

Over 1,000 ESB customers in Laois experienced power outages, with 806 in Abbeyleix losing power, along with 11 customers in Timahoe. This was caused by a tree falling in Timahoe, damaging an ESB pole.

In Portarlington, 30 customers were affected, along with 58 customers in Mountmellick. In Ballycowan on the Laois / Kildare border, there were 521 customers without power, according to ESB Powercheck.

Laois received a status yellow wind warning for the storm on Monday December 8, which was upgraded to a status orange on Tuesday.

Following January's Storm Eowyn that caused extensive damage across the country, Laois County Council recently created a Severe Weather Guide for Laois locals.

The guide provides tips, emergency contact information and a checklist of necessities to keep in an an emergency pack ahead of a storm. The Council also provided regular updates on social media throughout Storm Bram, advising Laois locals to take care when travelling.

January and February saw criticism of the Council's response to Storm Eowyn, with Independent Republican TD Brian Stanley arguing that the Council can hire indoor staff and 'pen pushers', but it cannot get permission to hire full time outdoor staff to respond to serious storms.

The Independent TD commended Council workers and Laois Fire service on their work, yet argued that outdoor workers in the ESB and local authorities have been allowed to be 'depleted' in favour of the privatisation of services.

A January meeting of Laois County Council saw Councillors argue over the response to storms, highlighting that the authority cannot deal with the impacts of heavy storms on their own.

The Council rallied 50 staff members at all hours to deal with snow, ice and then the devastating Storm Éowyn, clearing over 120 fallen trees.

Director of Services at the time, Mr Simon Walton, defended their work to clear many trees owned by semi-state forestry company Coillte off public roads, after criticism by Cllr Ben Brennan who said Coillte should have done the job.

Mr Walton shared at the time that the Council would speak to Coillte about creating a “buffer zone” between roads and their forest plantations.

Read Next: 'It's a disgrace' - Urgent action needs to be taken on N80 flooding in Laois