Storm Ali caused devastation across the county last week with one Fermanagh woman, Charlotte Wilson, still without broadband or a phone line eight days after the storm first struck.

The storm caused 100 electrical faults effecting over 1000 customers in Fermanagh with Miss Wilson reporting that NIE Networks emergency crew had her electricity back within 24 hours.

“They had a lot of faults for a lot of people to get fixed and I really appreciate them getting mine fixed. They were there Thursday morning and by Thursday afternoon it was back on,” she said.

The same good service cannot be said to have been forthcoming from Miss Wilson’s telephone and broadband provider, as she remains without a connection to the outside world with no phone line and no internet connection.

“Where I live in the forest, I have no mobile signal so without the broadband and the phone line I am completely isolated. If anything went wrong at night I don’t know where you would be. I just feel so helpless,” she explained before adding:

“I have tried to report it from work online and I have tried to ring them and you are told that they will look in to it but you just end up being on hold forever. I have just given up, I am totally disgusted.” Miss Wilson explained.

Miss Wilson lives in rural Fermanagh not far from Florence Court House.

The high winds of Storm Ali gusted at speeds of up to 90mph, causing widespread damage with roads blocked by fallen trees and debris. The electricity network suffered severe storm damage with trees brought down across overhead lines, broken poles and windborne debris disrupting electricity supplies across Northern Ireland.

Rodney Ballentine, Duty Incident Manager at NIE Networks said:

"We had been in close contact with the Met Office in the days leading up to Storm Ali, and had mobilised emergency crews, engineers, and call handling staff in preparation for the storm.

“Our local incident centres were escalated from early on Wednesday with NIE Networks engineers and emergency crews able to get on with the restoration work as soon as the high winds died down and it was safe to begin repairs.”