Ryanair passengers left 'screaming and praying' as plane descends in Storm Eowyn

Ryanair passengers who landed at an Irish airport during Storm Eowyn were left "praying". Lorraine Carney, from Co Cork, was among over 200 passengers on board the plane, described the last 30 minutes before landing as "tricky" and "absolutely frightening" after the first landing attempt was aborted.

The second landing was successful, with the passenger speaking out after touching down from Gran Canaria. "The plane was shaking from side to side. You could hear the rain battering against the windows and it was like rain I've never heard before," Lorraine told RTE's Today with Claire Byrne.

She said of the Ryanair pilot: "I don't know how he landed the plane because it was literally shaking from side to side." The number of homes and premises without power in Ireland has increased to 725,000, the Electricity Supply Board Networks (ESB) has said.

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“The worst of Storm Éowyn has now passed for most of the country but with Met Éireann wind warnings remaining in place further outages may still arise,” it said in a statement. ESB Networks and UK suppliers are both in touch with their European counterparts with a standing request for contingency energy supplies should they be needed.

The red weather warning has now passed in all countries in Ireland apart from Donegal where it remains in place until 2pm. Flights have been delayed, roads closed and ferry services cancelled as 100mph winds from Storm Éowyn pose a danger to life in parts of the UK on Friday.

Dozens of flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh airports were cancelled on Friday morning due to ongoing weather conditions, while Belfast International warned of significant disruption to flights. A gust of 100mph has been recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, the strongest gust so far today in the UK, the Met Office said.