Dairy and beef farmer John Fitzgerald thought his cows would be safest inside his shed in Portlaw, Co Waterford, for the duration of storm Ophelia.

That was until the roof started to “flap up and down” in the wind blowing directly from the nearby coast.

“It was flying debris across the yard so I thought it best at that stage to get out of there,” John said. “It was hard to keep on your feet here.”

In the end, only some sheets and part of the top canopy blew off into the slurry tank, but more were dislodged or punctured by nail holes and debris and will have to be replaced.

Another shed most directly exposed to the wind remained intact: “I had the tractor’s loader on the roof – it did the job.”

Dozens of trees are down in the area with a nearby hedge of mature trees lying flat in one block, their roots forming a man-high wall along a local road.