Many businesses in Leitrim town may not reopen this side of Christmas after a mini tornado ripped through the town yesterday afternoon.

Images and video shared widely on social media yesterday showed debris scattered around streets and significant damage to cars and houses in the village.

Gardaí urged people to avoid the area warning that the village was “closed” with emergency services at the scene.

It came after two named storms hit Ireland in the space of two days with Storms Fergus and Elin seeing Orange and Yellow Weather warnings issued around the country from Friday night.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, local business owner Seamus Gibbons described what it was like after the mini tornado touched down.

“We were coming up from the village after mass and I got a phone call from my next-door neighbour to say that the place was in chaos and that the place was wrecked,” he said.

“I was trying to make out what in the name of God was happening because I was only 200 yards away and there was very heavy rain but I knew nothing of [the tornado].

“So, I walked across the bridge and it was like carnage; like a bomb had gone off – unbelievable scenes.”

The Leitrim Inn and Blueway Lodge would like to thank the local community for the support in dealing with the awful Climatic attack today and thankfully there were casualties. We are still dealing with the shock of the event . pic.twitter.com/guEu3dPP6O

— Leitrim inn and blueway lodge (@AndBlueway) December 10, 2023

The owner of Electric Bike Trails said the mini tornado “literally swept across from east to west and through the village and just took everything”.

“Across the road from me, it took the roof clean off the middle of a house, and it seemed to sweep up along the back of the local pubs and restaurants and came across my place and it just literally shredded the roof.

“It is a big roof and it had to be made safe last night; everybody had to leave the premises. The whole place, the whole village is closed up at the moment.”

Incredible video of what looks like a tornado ripping through Leitrim Village

This video has been posted on Reddit pic.twitter.com/IhzyrcLyOR

— Barry Whyte (@BarryWhyte85) December 10, 2023

Also on the show, Met Éireann forecaster Gerry Murphy explained what happened.

“It's been described as a mini tornado,” he said.

“What really happened was there was a band of very heavy showers ahead of Storm Fergus and this caused some thunderstorms, mainly actually across Galway and Mayo - but there was a couple also in parts of Roscommon and Leitrim.

“This particular one then generated quite a lot of damage in a small area in Leitrim village."

A freak weather event this afternoon
has caused serious damage to property and cars in Leitrim Village.

Some locals say it felt like a tornado ripping through the village #leitrim #leitrimvillage #leitrimtornado pic.twitter.com/D75VqETjyX

— Barry Whyte (@BarryWhyte85) December 10, 2023

He said mini tornados occur “occasionally” in Ireland.

“About 10 per year is on average what we get of these and what they basically are, they're basically thunderstorms but the tornado aspect occurs when basically a funnel cloud is formed because of rotation that's caused,” he said.

“Once that rotation increases, it causes the funnel cloud - if the funnel cloud drops down to the ground and hits the ground - it can then cause damage on a very local scale.

“Now it must be said that that the mini tornadoes that occur over Ireland are very, very small and much less frequent than the very large tornadoes that occur in other parts of the world; especially in parts of the US.”

Emergency funding package required for Leitrim village following freak event. Let’s see full state resources made available to assist with tornado devastation. pic.twitter.com/oAE3NSWTrR

— Marc MacSharryTD (@MarcMacsharryTD) December 11, 2023

Mr Gibbons said there are now “major works” in the town before businesses can reopen.

“We’re out; we’re down,” he said. “I know I won't be open certainly this side of Christmas.

“The local bars and restaurants, God love them, my heart goes out to them.”

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