Hundreds of children got an unexpected day off when power cuts caused a number of schools across the county to close last week.

Storm force gales led to a loss of power in 20,000 homes across the North as the bitter winter chill entered its second week.

Heavy snow also blanketed large parts of the county on Wednesday morning. 

Among the schools that closed due to the power cuts were Saint John’s Dernaflaw, Saint Peter’s and Paul’s, Foreglen, Saint Canice’s, Feeny and Saint Mary’s Gortnaghey.

Fiona McCann, Principal at Saint Peter’s and Saint Paul’s, says they had no choice but to close the school.

“The power was off and we had no idea when it was coming back on again,” she said. “When we arrived we knew the power had been off from the night before. We had to close because there was no power and we could not have the children freezing in the school.”

Northern Ireland Electricity Spokesperson Kerstie Forsyth said engineers fought to maintain the power supply.

“The electricity network performed well in the extreme conditions,” she said. ”Our incident centres and call centres are fully staffed and our field staff will respond to any faults that are reported.”