THREE people were rescued from a sinking pleasure boat off the north coast on Saturday as Storm Betty battered the island with strong winds at the weekend.
Tens of thousands of homes were left without power across the country after the storm hit late on Friday evening.
Travel was also hampered by falling trees across the road network. A section of the M1 motorway was closed in the early hours of Saturday morning due to a tree close to junction eight near Lisburn.
Sea conditions remained treacherous on Saturday prompting the RLNI and a local boat owner to rush to the rescue of three people off the coast of Portstewart.
Richard Connor told the BBC the pleasure boat was “completely gone” when his Causeway Lass vessel arrived on the scene.
After several minutes of frantically searching through debris in the water, he said a "hand sticking out of a wave" was spotted.
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Mr Connor rescued two people, with a third person recovered by the RNLI Portrush lifeboat.
“The guys were incredibly fortunate that they were found, given the conditions - they were very trying conditions,” he told the broadcaster.
A RLNI lifeboat was also deployed to rescue a yacht of the coast of Co Kerry on Saturday .
The Castletownbere lifeboat was launched in gale force winds early on Saturday, travelling for three hours to assist two sailors whose yacht got into difficulties on the northern shore of Kenmare Bay.
The 31-foot ketch had been anchored off Dromquinna, and as the storm on Friday became increasingly strong, the vessel dragged anchor and became stuck on a rock.
The Shannon Airport-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter was also tasked to help the rescue.
The vessel was undamaged and both sailors were safe and well.
There were also other reports of boats being washed up around the Irish coast, including in Ballywatticock in Co Down and in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, where a boat broke free from its berth and crashed into the harbour.
Meanwhile, ESB Networks said around 70,000 premises were hit by power cuts on Friday in the Republic as Storm Betty caused havoc.
NIE Networks also reported a number of power outages in some parts of the north over the weekend.
The PSNI said flooding in some areas of Belfast on Friday night rendered a number of roads impassable for a time. The Upper Knockbreda Road, Castlereagh Road and Loughview Road areas were all hit by flooding.
Some sporting fixtures were also hit by the weekend weather conditions. Saturday's Irish Premiership game between Glentoran and Crusaders was called off after the pitch at the Oval failed a pitch inspection.
Storm Betty is the second named storm to hit the island following Storm Antoni in early August.
