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A freak whirlwind caused damage to a number of horticulture growers' glasshouses earlier this week. The whirlwind lasted approximately three minutes and, according to one horticulturist, caused damage of an estimated €100,000. At least five neighbouring nurseries were destroyed in this period. The whirlwind took place on Monday 14 October at approximately 9.40 am.
PJ Jones was working on Laurence McGuinness’s strawberry farm in Haystown, Rush at the time.
"It was a normal kind of day, but I had heard on the news that a few flights had been cancelled from Dublin airport that morning.”
Jones explained he and a nephew of McGuinness’s were standing in the yard, when they saw a dark grey whirlwind come across the water in a south-westerly direction, “which is always the worst, as it picks up strength over the sea”.
The sudden wind lifted the glass of the nurseries and ripped plastic off polytunnels. Robert Carrick, who owns a neighbouring farm said: “The plastic came off the tunnels and landed in trees and everything."
Insurance
Carrick has been repairing his glasshouses since Monday as glass needs to be replaced immediately to prevent further damage being caused.
“The glaziers that came in this week have told me that it might cost me €20,000 to replace the glass, the problem is that glasshouses can’t be insured in Ireland.
I have never seen anything like it
Carrick’s glasshouses were built by his parents in the 1970s and he will have to bear the brunt of the costs. There were a number of other farmers that suffered damage as a result of the whirlwind. Dominic Jones, Liam Corr and a business, Carthy and Collins, all suffered extensive damage to their property.
PJ Jones said: “You can’t pick the strawberries now because the plastic is off and they lifted up, so they’re gone. There was pak choi in other glasshouses and it’s (the glass) gone down through it, so you couldn’t go near that because if there was the slightest splinter, you’d be open to a law suit."
Robert Carrick said: “We had no time to prepare, it had been raining earlier and when the rain stopped, we went out to load a truck. We turned around and the open plastic panels at the back were suddenly blown horizontal and then it was flat calm again in three minutes, there was debris everywhere. I have never seen anything like it.”
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