United Kingdom (Commonwealth Union )_Homes and vehicles have been seriously damaged and police have told the public to “avoid the area” after a possible tornado hit an Irish village.
Officers in Ireland said that the village of Leitrim in County Leitrim was “closed” while emergency services responded to the incident.
They added that there were no reports of anyone being seriously injured, but footage on social media appeared to show a tornado sweeping through.
Pictures of damaged vehicles and buildings in the aftermath were shared.
A resident, Eileen Gibbons, told Sky News it was a miracle no one was badly hurt. “We are so shocked, it seems unbelievable.”
She stated that witnesses had seen the possible tornado come up the canal, they had seen water rising up, and that it then it took down trees in its wake.
She added that it took a roof off one building, and hit the back of a bar-restaurant and took out the smoking area there, and did a lot of damage.
A Garda spokesperson said that emergencies services were attending the incident in Leitrim and the village was closed.
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Paddy Farrell, another witness, told the PA news agency he was almost caught in the middle of the “tornado” and that when he was driving his Jeep there was a roof taken off a building, and several buildings were damaged. He said that even on fairly new apartments there was a damage, and that there could be 10-20 cars damaged.
Meteorologist Liz Walsh for Met Eireann, the Irish Meteorological Service, said that reports of a tornado in the area were “possibly correct” or “certainly some very high winds associated with the thunderstorm”.
The UK’s Met Office has issued warnings that heavy rain will continue across Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of England and Wales on Sunday evening.
It has put yellow rain warnings in place for parts of Scotland and northern England.
They include a warning that covers an area stretching from Carlisle to Sheffield which came into force at 5pm and runs through to 3am on Monday morning while warning of the possibility of flooding and potential disruption to transport.
Storm Fergus is the second storm that was named by forecasters in Ireland this weekend.
Storm Elin brought strong winds and heavy downpours to parts of the UK and Ireland on Saturday.
Manchester was particularly affected, while train services from Piccadilly were cancelled after an overhead line “exploded”.
The UK is expected to be hit by further bad weather as transport cancellations are looking ever more likely owing to Storm Fergus safety fears.
Trains, ferries, car journeys and flights, could be disrupted by the bad weather, while seafronts and coastal communities may be affected by spray and large waves.
Northern Rail issued a “do not travel” alert to passengers, citing several weather-related incidents.
Trains travelling to Norwich, Liverpool, Wales, York and Edinburgh were all affected.
Some passengers were left stranded, and several were forced to hire expensive taxis or get hotel rooms.
Cancelled flights
Hovercraft passengers to and from the Isle of Wight are being warned cancellations to its cross-Solent flights due to the adverse weather forecast while Hovertravel is presently running its flights between Ryde Esplanade and Southsea to the timetable.
In a message posted on its website, however it says: ”weather cancellations expected from 12pm. Please see our disruption contingency plan.”
Met Office update
Further heavy rain or showers will develop Sunday evening after a brief lull once morning rain clears from west to east across the area, before clearing during the early hours on Monday.
Some impacts are likely given very wet ground.
