Ten farmers lived to tell the tale after they were able to escape a tornado unscathed, in County Londonderry Wednesday.
They were inside a barn when the tornado struck it and ripped through the roof, they explained. A wall collapsed, destroying a car, but no one was hurt by the incident.
Farmer Fergie Kelly said the workers were tending to the cows inside the barn near Eglinton, when they were startled by a loud bang, BBC reported.
"We thought there was a bomb that went off. We ran out of the shed,” Kelly said.
"The cows all stampeded ... We saw a tornado going down through the field,” the farmer added.
Kelly described that the tin was hurled into the air, along with the roof trusses and blocks and a lot of other debris. The farmers recounted it as “quite a scary experience," but it has been just one event caused by unusual weather in Northern Ireland.
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"We have had torrential rain, thunderstorms, massive hail, and on Wednesday there was a report of a tornado near Eglinton around lunchtime," BBC weather presenter, Cecilia Daly said.
“A tornado is basically a funnel cloud which makes contact with the ground and as result will sweep up anything in its path depending on how much energy is available and therefore how powerful the 'twister' is,” Daly said.
Forecaster from Irish Weather Online Fergal Tierney said that the the European Storm Forecast Experiment had warned of the possibility of funnels for the British Isles in their storm forecast Wednesday morning.
According to Tierney, more tornadoes or funnels can be expected in the next few days due to the current thunderstorm weather conditions.
"The only good thing about today is everyone got out without being hurt," Farmer Fergie Kelly said. If there are more tornadoes, let’s hope everyone has the same luck as them.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.deburca | Jun 13, 2011, 12:27 AM EDT
Fantastic video! I hope that is the only tornado in Ireland this summer because I'll be there for the summer with my 9 year old and I've assured him Ireland doesn't get tornadoes like we do in midwestern US.
crowsnest | Jun 11, 2011, 06:09 PM EDT
That is an incredible photo !!! and the Name of the PHOTOGRAPHER should have been given credit rather than a generic ' Photo by County Derry Post '. WHO TOOK THE PHOTO?
davekemp | Jun 11, 2011, 12:11 PM EDT
So does this mean that when my Irish ancestors arrived out on the prairie of the Upper Midwest over 150 years ago they might have been familiar with tornadoes, because they had occurred back in Ireland? The photographer of the Derry storm was very lucky he wasn't injured by the twister. Just because you have the technology to take a good tornado photo doesn't mean you shouldn't take cover when it is needed. The recent wave of storm chasers in the region have learned the hard way about getting too close. There have been alot of under publicized injuries with this spring's storms. There are numerous clouds like the one in Derry each storm season in the Upper Midwest.
beaumax99 | Jun 11, 2011, 10:24 AM EDT
Had very little rain this year in Florida which reminds me of my first year down here. Moved down here in 2004 and there was very little rain. That summer we got hit by 3 major hurricanes. Mother Nature is getting to be quite scary.
Gearoid4 | Jun 11, 2011, 09:00 AM EDT
Derry is divided by the river Foyle which has created a left bank and a west bank. The west bank which has a Catholic majority is physically located inside the Inishowen penisula which is a beautiful part of Donegal(part of the Republic of Ireland). The decision to place the whole of Derry and other majority-nationalist cities and towns in a state called 'Northern Ireland' was taken at the behest of the boundary commission which the British setup in 1925 and no plebescite was held to decide the issue. The injustice of partition still rankles and it's consequences have all been to clear over the last 90 years.
CitizenWhy | Jun 11, 2011, 12:46 AM EDT
Derry in the headline (good), Londonderry in the story (bad). I never heard an Irish person refer to this county or city as Londonderry.
akellyny | Jun 10, 2011, 04:31 PM EDT
IT IS DERRY - NOT "LONDONDERRY"
RedBranch | Jun 10, 2011, 02:09 PM EDT
PHOTOSHOP
cillowen | Jun 10, 2011, 01:53 PM EDT
where is londonderry - a name uk's planters gave to derry - and now we 'ave i-offthe map spouting their line.
Sparklet | Jun 10, 2011, 01:18 PM EDT
sham1977 - because Derry is in Northern Ireland. But you don't expect people from the Republic, or connected to the Republic, to call it Londonderry. Maybe Ms Rodriguez is a Unionist.
Ms.Gail | Jun 10, 2011, 12:02 PM EDT
I'm glad everyone is all right. We get Tornados warnings and watches fairly frequently durning the season. It is awesome and frightening when one comes close by and usually tragic when one touches down. glad no lives were lost and property lose was limited (and I hope covered by inurance).
sham1977 | Jun 10, 2011, 11:44 AM EDT
I know. Why is this still on maps - saying Londonderry instead of Derry? It really annoys me that it's still on maps. Cobh is now Cobh and not queenstown, is it not? Why is it not the same for Derry city?
Searlit | Jun 10, 2011, 11:39 AM EDT
That's not good editing.
Sparklet | Jun 10, 2011, 11:12 AM EDT
Beat me to it Donalmca. I cant believe Ms Rodriquez has referred to it as Londonderry.