“The devastation is real... the power that was behind it is really frightening” - Seamus Gibbons

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer in the aftermath of the tornado, local businessman Seamus Gibbons explained there was a month's mind on Sunday and he and his wife Eileen had tea and sandwiches for the family in the local community centre.
“We were leaving the centre when the lights started going on and off,” he explained.
Next thing his phone went and his neighbour said “your shop is wrecked.”
They drove towards the shop but the road was blocked so they parked at the Leitrim Quay and walked up to shop.
“All I could see was debris; it was like a bomb had gone off and nobody really knew what had happened at this stage. I came down to our premises and it was just shattered and there was a car just up the street that had timber through it and I was sure that somebody had been killed but was delighted to find out that no one had,” he said.
He added, “When you see behind the buildings, the devastation is real and the movement of things like the wall and the roof; the power that was behind it is really frightening.”
Seamus said the response from the community was amazing. “Everybody came from everywhere trying to see what they could do and make sure everyone was alright and thank God, within a very short while, everyone was accounted for and we knew that three people only had slight injuries.
“That is the miracle of it. When you saw the car on the street and timber through it, how they weren't killed is just a miracle. Then a lady was sitting in the car park behind the Leitrim Inn waiting for her daughter and son-in-law and a huge branch came down and she walked out of it without a scratch.”
However, Seamus's business was one of the worst struck and he doesn't know when he will be able to open his doors again. “We are just trying to make sure everything is safe now at the moment and the council are helping us. They have brought in scaffolding to secure all the fronts in case anything falls from the buildings like loose slates or other debris.”
He said that five families have been affected by the damage as well as five businesses. “It's tough, God love them, and on the businesses too.”
Seamus said that his building will lose out on business due to the damage.
“We wouldn't do a lot with the hire side of the business until Christmas and new year when people are coming to stay in the village and if the weather is nice, we would hire out bikes to them. But we had sales with the electric bikes but obviously there is nobody coming to us for bikes at the moment,” he said.
When asked when he thought the shop would be open again, he replied, “I really don't know. When the building gets scaffolding and coverings and is made safe but I'm determined to get the salon, the Blueway Beauty, open today (Tuesday) if possible, because naturally enough she has a lot of bookings coming up to Christmas. Then we hope to get the Chinese open tomorrow. We'll get ourselves patched up then. I have more damage on my end than the others. The electricity to the Blueway Beauty and Chinese is on as of this morning so they can operate once the front is made safe.”
He said that he has to get the roof sorted for the “people in the apartments but hopefully we'll be in a good way with that by the end of the day. I'm going down to meet the contractor and see what he can do and so forth. There's not a big quick fix here. It's going to be slow enough.”
He added, “The money that's needed to fix the place; I don't have it and the insurance won't pay it out until everything is sorted. We just don't know where we stand with anything at the moment.”