Wexford farmers saw their sheds “flattened” in minutes on Wednesday as extreme gusts rattled their yards.
The dangerous weather event has been described as a “weak tornado” by Paul Downes of Met Éireann.
John Stafford, who runs a 100-cow dairy farm, at Balliniry, Ramsgrange, Co Wexford, had four sheds destroyed in what he described as “€100,000 to €200,000 worth of damage”.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Stafford said that in “less than a minute”, sheeting and roofs were ripped away and shed walls were knocked. He watched as the body of one shed moved through another and took off towards his dwelling house.
John Stafford on his farm on Thursday. \ Philip Doyle
The sheeting flew through his conservatory windows as it crashed into his family home. He said that, luckily, his wife and two children were upstairs and unharmed.
“I have never seen anything like it in my lifetime. It has to be a mini hurricane. It was over in a minute,” the shaken farmer recalled on Thursday morning.
‘Nothing left’
Stafford described how he has a “cubicle shed gone completely” and how “the main shed where the cows are, the end was taken out of that”.
Another straw bed shed, which he had planned to put 24 maiden heifers in on Wednesday, has “nothing left and the walls and everything are gone”.
“If it had been today, the 24 heifers, they’d be dead. They’d have been swept away altogether,” he said.
The damage on Wexford farmer John Stafford's farm. \ Philip Doyle
No cattle were harmed in the incident, which the farmer said is “just unbelievable”.
“The main shed is still standing. It took off a few [parts] in the roof, but it’s enough to keep them in,” he said.
The farmer’s milking parlour avoided damage, but the extent of electricity wire damage in the area has left him dependent on a generator, which Stafford said had broken down on Thursday morning.
“We’re just waiting on the ESB to come and get us back going. We’ll milk then. The neighbours have been just unreal. A neighbour down the road offered a shed and all,” he said.
Silage pit
In what Stafford described something that he “couldn’t believe”, sheets were swept off his silage pit out from under the tyres, leaving all the tyres behind.
The farmer and his neighbours were starting to re-cover the pit when talking to the Irish Farmers Journal.
“A lot of [the sheeting] went across the road and everything. We were so lucky there was nothing coming at the time. Once no one was killed and we’re not planning a funeral.”
The roof of one shed was completely swept away in minutes. \ Philip Doyle
The farmer said his house walls are all cracked and they’ve had to fix holes in the roof. He said the roof of the building seems to have “lifted” momentarily.
‘Weak tornado’
Met Éireann’s Paul Downes described the freak weather incident as a “weak tornado”.
“We’re not a fan of the word mini. They’re still very dangerous. The idea is they’re as strong as a lot of the weaker ones that happen in America,” he said.
The forecaster explained that weak tornados, which happen 15 times a year in Ireland on average, involve winds with speeds of 80 to 120 miles per hour.
He said they can be particularly common “at this time of year when periods of low pressure are coming in”.
The mini tornados can be “usually 80m to 100m wide”, are “usually very short” and are “not on the ground very long”, Downes said.
He described how they can cause trees to “snap in the middle” due to the “pressure difference” and warned that they are difficult to forecast as they have such a “short lead time”.
However, he suggested that with any wind warning, “these can just develop with these systems”.
Destruction
Clongeen, Co Wexford, resident Willie John Kehoe said that in a “narrow band” along his road, 12 houses were affected by the weak tornado, with “three or four very badly” impacted.
Trees and debris blew across John Stafford's farmyard. \ Philip Doyle
He said there are “two three-wire pylons lying off to one side and it’s only the wires holding them up”.
“One man with a very narrow property, it turned the car in the driveway. One side of his yard was fine. The right-hand side, everything is gone.”
Wexford farmers saw their sheds “flattened” in minutes on Wednesday as extreme gusts rattled their yards.
The dangerous weather event has been described as a “weak tornado” by Paul Downes of Met Éireann.
John Stafford, who runs a 100-cow dairy farm, at Balliniry, Ramsgrange, Co Wexford, had four sheds destroyed in what he described as “€100,000 to €200,000 worth of damage”.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Stafford said that in “less than a minute”, sheeting and roofs were ripped away and shed walls were knocked. He watched as the body of one shed moved through another and took off towards his dwelling house.
John Stafford on his farm on Thursday. \ Philip Doyle
The sheeting flew through his conservatory windows as it crashed into his family home. He said that, luckily, his wife and two children were upstairs and unharmed.
“I have never seen anything like it in my lifetime. It has to be a mini hurricane. It was over in a minute,” the shaken farmer recalled on Thursday morning.
‘Nothing left’
Stafford described how he has a “cubicle shed gone completely” and how “the main shed where the cows are, the end was taken out of that”.
Another straw bed shed, which he had planned to put 24 maiden heifers in on Wednesday, has “nothing left and the walls and everything are gone”.
“If it had been today, the 24 heifers, they’d be dead. They’d have been swept away altogether,” he said.
The damage on Wexford farmer John Stafford's farm. \ Philip Doyle
No cattle were harmed in the incident, which the farmer said is “just unbelievable”.
“The main shed is still standing. It took off a few [parts] in the roof, but it’s enough to keep them in,” he said.
The farmer’s milking parlour avoided damage, but the extent of electricity wire damage in the area has left him dependent on a generator, which Stafford said had broken down on Thursday morning.
“We’re just waiting on the ESB to come and get us back going. We’ll milk then. The neighbours have been just unreal. A neighbour down the road offered a shed and all,” he said.
Silage pit
In what Stafford described something that he “couldn’t believe”, sheets were swept off his silage pit out from under the tyres, leaving all the tyres behind.
The farmer and his neighbours were starting to re-cover the pit when talking to the Irish Farmers Journal.
“A lot of [the sheeting] went across the road and everything. We were so lucky there was nothing coming at the time. Once no one was killed and we’re not planning a funeral.”
The roof of one shed was completely swept away in minutes. \ Philip Doyle
The farmer said his house walls are all cracked and they’ve had to fix holes in the roof. He said the roof of the building seems to have “lifted” momentarily.
‘Weak tornado’
Met Éireann’s Paul Downes described the freak weather incident as a “weak tornado”.
“We’re not a fan of the word mini. They’re still very dangerous. The idea is they’re as strong as a lot of the weaker ones that happen in America,” he said.
The forecaster explained that weak tornados, which happen 15 times a year in Ireland on average, involve winds with speeds of 80 to 120 miles per hour.
He said they can be particularly common “at this time of year when periods of low pressure are coming in”.
The mini tornados can be “usually 80m to 100m wide”, are “usually very short” and are “not on the ground very long”, Downes said.
He described how they can cause trees to “snap in the middle” due to the “pressure difference” and warned that they are difficult to forecast as they have such a “short lead time”.
However, he suggested that with any wind warning, “these can just develop with these systems”.
Destruction
Clongeen, Co Wexford, resident Willie John Kehoe said that in a “narrow band” along his road, 12 houses were affected by the weak tornado, with “three or four very badly” impacted.
Trees and debris blew across John Stafford's farmyard. \ Philip Doyle
He said there are “two three-wire pylons lying off to one side and it’s only the wires holding them up”.
“One man with a very narrow property, it turned the car in the driveway. One side of his yard was fine. The right-hand side, everything is gone.”
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