Ophelia: Storm leaves tens of thousands without power in Northern Ireland

Gusts of up to 71mph were recorded in County Down

Related video: Coronavirus cases: The spread outside China ( )

Thousands of people have been left without power in Northern Ireland after the country was smashed by Storm Ophelia.

Northern Ireland Electricity Networks (NIEN) said 16,000 customers had been affected and warned that increasing wind speeds may cause further outages.

Winds of up to 71mph were recorded in Co Down, and similar measurements were recorded across the UK.

Some of the outages were apparently caused trees falling on power lines.

NIEN tweeted images illustrating the problem.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Republic of Ireland also lost power after being lashed by the storm.

In both countries, people have been warned to avoid unnecessary travel and schools have been closed.

The Education Department in Northern Ireland said schools have been advised to remain closed to "avoid any potential risk to life for children, young people and staff."