Homes and cars in an Irish town were badly damaged after a possible tornado hit the area.
Emergency services were called to Leitrim town on Sunday afternoon after high winds toppled trees, tore a roof off a building and left debris strewn across a street.
Met Éireann 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 relies on social media posts and videos to say for sure if it’s a tornado.
She added: “In a thundercloud, the wind speed and direction can change as it moves up into the cloud, causing rotation, and as the funnel cloud can extend to the ground, causing 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 are not a very predictable thing, it will only be there for a few minutes.”
A witness to the possible tornado said his Jeep was pelted with debris as he drove through the storm.
Councilor Paddy Farrell said he was almost caught in the middle of the “tornado” as he drove through Leitrim town. “I actually drove through town myself. If I had been a second slower, I would have been in the spot,” he said.
“I was driving my Jeep. It sounded like there was a crowd pinning rocks to my Jeep as I drove through, with all the debris flying around. It just happened suddenly.”
Farrell, who lives near the village, added: “There was a roof off a building, and several buildings were damaged. Even on fairly new apartments there was damage, I think the window blew in on one of them.
“There are a lot of cars damaged, there could be 10 to 20 cars damaged.” He says emergency services have been called and businesses near the scene have closed.
“No one was seriously hurt but I think there were two minor injuries,” he said, adding: “I was actually shaking when I got home because it was scary – I kept coming home like as fast 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 thunder 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 Éireann said.
Orange warnings for wind are in place for counties Clare, Galway and Mayo, indicating very strong onshore winds along with high waves and high tides.
Storm Fergus, the second named storm of the weekend, also has 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 travel conditions caused by debris or displaced loose objects.
Mete-Éireann meteorologist Michelle Dillon said: “Strong to gale-force south-westerly winds turning west will develop through Sunday afternoon, evening and early Sunday evening as Storm Fergus tracks eastwards across the country.
“Storm surge will lead to high seas and together with the stormy conditions there is the possibility of coastal flooding along parts of the west coast, especially 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 have been issued for Northern Ireland.
Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page said Storm Fergus would cap what had been an “unsettled weekend of weather for the UK”.
“Fergus will bring some strong winds and heavy rain for a while late 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 the Irish Sea coast, while also bringing some potentially impactful rain.”
