CORK CITY COUNCIL personnel, firefighters and Gardaí are leading efforts to clean up Barrack Street after isolated high winds saw rubbish, cables, roof slates, and even a sheet of corrugated iron left scattered around. 

Part of the street is closed to traffic while emergency service personnel are still fixing cables, removing debris, and checking roofs for loose slates, and other damage that could be potentially dangerous. 

One emergency services worker at the scene said that what took place was an “isolated but severe” weather event, that saw “freak high winds” on the street.

The street is open to pedestrians, but several fire brigade vehicles and a garda van are parked in the road, blocking it off from motorists from the corner of Evergreen street and the bottom of Barrack street. 

Locals woke up to see the street strewn with rubbish as winds saw bins knocked over, and several houses sustained significant damage, including a window frame that was ripped from one property. 

Local news site CorkBeo has reported that one resident on the street woke up to find damage to the inside of their property as well. 

There appears to be no damage on any of the surrounding streets, and coffee shops and other local businesses are open and operating as normal in the area. 

 Virgin Media personnel are also present on the street, assisting with efforts to repair strewn cables. 

The Journal has asked both Met Éireann and Cork City Council for comment on the nature of the weather event that took place on the street last night. 

A window frame was ripped from one property.

On Met Éireann’s website, the national meteorological service does note that Ireland is not immune to tornados, even if they are sometimes referred to as “mini-tornados”. 

“All tornados can be dangerous and on average there are ten occurrences in Ireland each year. 

“Ireland has a relatively small number,” it adds, noting that tornados are most often associated with the Mid-west or South of the US. 

“While summertime is marginally more conducive to the formation of tornadoes, the risk in Ireland though low, spans throughout the year”, it adds. 

The South Terrace area in Cork city has been braced for spot flooding over the last few nights due to heavy rain. 

Efforts are underway to fix cables that were torn down during the severe weather event, on Evergreen street.

A Status Yellow weather warning was in place yesterday, as gale-force winds were forecasted for coastal areas in Munster. 

Heavy rainfall is forecasted for the city again today, as well as possible thunderstorms in the afternoon, but so far it has been a clear, calm, and dry morning.