Village in Republic hit by ‘possible tornado’ as homes and cars seriously damaged
The clean-up operation is underway in Leitrim after what's thought was a tornado hit the village on Sunday causing substantial disruption.
Winds whipped through the village in the early afternoon damaging homes, cars and shop fronts.
No one was severely injured although some locals have been placed in temporary accomodation as a result of damage to their homes.
Staff from Leitrim County Council’s fire service, the Roads Department and the Civil Defence attended alongside gardaí.
Warnings for wind were in place for the west coast of Ireland, including briefly a red warning, the highest level.
Photographs and videos on social media show the tornado's trail of destruction.
The main road through the village was closed overnight to allow authorities to assess the extent of the damage.
Gardaí advised the public to avoid the area where possible.
Met Eireann meteorologist Liz Walsh said reports of a tornado in the area were “possibly correct” or “certainly some very high winds associated with the thunderstorm”.
She said the forecaster was relying on social media reports and videos to say for certain if it was a tornado.
She added: “In a thundercloud, the wind speed and direction can change as it goes up in the cloud, which causes rotation and if the funnel cloud is able to stretch all the way down to the ground that causes a tornado.
“It could also have been a straight line gust, it’s most likely one or the other, but people say they saw rotation.
“They’re not a very forecastable thing, it would only be there for a couple of minutes.”
A witness to the possible tornado said his Jeep was pelted with debris as he drove through the storm.
Councillor Paddy Farrell said he was almost caught in the middle of the “tornado” while driving through Leitrim village.
“I was actually driving through the village myself. If I was a second slower I’d have been in the brunt of it,” he said.
“I was driving my Jeep. It sounded as if there was a crowd pegging stones at my Jeep as I was driving through, with all the debris that was flying around. It just happened all of a sudden.”
Mr Farrell, who lives near the village, said the wind took a roof off a building.
“There was a roof taken off a building, and there was several buildings damaged. Even on fairly new apartments there was a damage, I think the window blew in on one of them.
“There’s a lot of cars damaged, there could be 10 to 20 cars damaged.”
He said emergency services were called and businesses near the scene had closed.
“No one was badly injured, but I think there were two minor injuries,” he said, adding: “I was actually shook when I came home to the house, because it was frightening – I kept going to get home as quick as I could.”
It comes after a yellow thunderstorm warning was issued for Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath from midday until 6pm, meaning thunderstorms and lightning are likely.
Meanwhile, high winds and potential coastal flooding are expected on the west coast of Ireland later on Sunday as Storm Fergus sweeps across the island, Met Eireann has said.
Orange warnings for wind are in place for counties Clare, Galway and Mayo, indicating very strong onshore winds coupled with high waves and high tides.
Storm Fergus, the second named storm of the weekend, has also brought yellow warnings for wind in counties Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wicklow, Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo.
Those counties can expect difficult travelling conditions caused by debris or displaced loose objects.
Met Eireann meteorologist Michelle Dillon said: “Strong to gale force south-west winds veering westerly will be developing through Sunday afternoon, evening and early Sunday night as Storm Fergus tracks eastwards across the country.
“Storm surge will lead to high seas and along with the stormy conditions there’s the possibility of coastal flooding along parts of the west coast, particularly at high tide.”
The UK Met Office has also put in place some yellow weather warnings in parts of Scotland and northern England, but no warnings for Northern Ireland have been issued.
Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page said Storm Fergus will conclude what has been an “unsettled weekend of weather for the UK”.
“Fergus will bring some strong winds and heavy rain for a time late on Sunday and into the early hours of Monday morning,” he said.
“While the strongest gusts are expected in the Republic of Ireland, Storm Fergus will bring some windy conditions to western areas, including Irish Sea coasts, while also bringing some potentially impactful rain.”
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