A tornado has hit the Irish village of Leitrim and police have told people to “avoid the area” after serious damage was reported on Sunday afternoon.
No casualties have been reported, but footage on social media appears to show a tornado tearing through Leitrim.
Paddy Farrell who witnessed what happened, told the PA news agency: “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.”
Leitrim hurricane aftermath pic.twitter.com/uh4k5Kmom2
— Ciaran Mullooly (@ciaranmullooly) December 10, 2023
Farrell added, “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 10-20 cars damaged.”
Incredible footage of the tornado ripping through Leitrim County, Ireland this afternoon! 😲
📸 mcnally_92 via Reddit pic.twitter.com/I4vcpe5hSI
— Kildare Weather (@KildareMet) December 10, 2023
Farrell said the encounter was scary, “No one was badly injured, but I think there were two minor injuries,” he added, “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.”
Met Eireann meteorologist Liz Walsh said reports of a tornado in the area is “possibly correct” or “certainly some very high winds associated with the thunderstorm.”
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.”
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 direct 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 Met Office has warned that heavy rainfall will be potentially “disruptive” in northern England and Scotland on Monday.
There is a yellow weather warning from 5pm on Sunday until 3am on Monday morning stretching from Carlise to Sheffield.
Met Office Chief Meteorologist Andy Page said, “Fergus will bring some strong winds and heavy rain for a time late on Sunday and into the early hours of Monday morning.
A tornado struck Leitrim village in County Leitrim in #Ireland this afternoon, causing damage to vehicles and buildings. pic.twitter.com/sz3140Gp7x
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) December 10, 2023
“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.
“The rain has potential to be disruptive in parts of northern England and parts of Scotland, especially where it’s falling on very saturated ground.”
