‘Quick and nasty’ tornado causes destruction in Irish villageon December 10, 2023 at 3:22 pm

A tornado has caused damage to vehicles and buildings in Leitrim village in County Leitrim.

It happened early on Sunday afternoon as heavy rain was passing over the area.

Footage and photographs posted online show the aftermath of what has been described as a quick and nasty event.

It comes as a red alert – the highest possible weather warning – has been issued for part of the west coast of Ireland for a time on Sunday afternoon.

“It only lasted a very short amount of time but caused a lot of damage,” said Paddy Farrell, a county councillor.

Mr Farrell was driving through the village when the tornado struck.

“I missed it by a few seconds, I was very lucky,” he said.

“I kept driving to get away from it – otherwise my car would have been badly damaged.”

“I don’t think anyone was badly hurt, thankfully, but the roof of a building has been taken off and a lot of cars have been damaged.

“There’s a lot of debris out in the street and the emergency services are at the scene”.

Local resident Paddy Cunningham told BBC News NI: “I was coming into the town and noticed street lights flickering and electric out in the buildings.”

Mr Cunningham said that when he saw the damage he initially he thought there had either been a gas explosion or a lightning strike.

“I came to the bridge and saw people running around with their hands on their heads and shouting – it was like an explosion site,” he said.

“There was damage everywhere and lots of people trying to clear the street to get cars out of the way and to make is safer for everyone.”

Seamus Gibbons runs an electric-bike store in the village, which is on the River Shannon. He said he had “never seen anything like it”.

“Six boats in the marina are overturned,” he said.

“It was unbelievable carnage. My roof was shredded and the slates were ripped off.”

He added: “The gable window of my building was put through and half the roof was ripped off the storage building out the back – and I still haven’t found where that landed.

“The people living in the apartment above my shop have had to move out and the business will be closed for a while now.”

Gardaí (Irish police) and other emergency services are at the scene of the incident.

Gardaí said the the village was closed and urged people to “avoid the area”.

Meanwhile, weather warnings are in place as Storm Fergus moves across the island of Ireland.

A red alert has been issued for County Galway, with Irish weather service Met Éireann warning of average wind speeds of up to 85kh/h (52mph) for an hour on Sunday afternoon, before easing.

A Status Orange warning has been issued for counties Clare and Mayo.

Along with Leitrim, a yellow warning for wind has been issued across 17 counties.