Families suffer devastating damage to their homes from Storm Eowyn
Storm Eowyn wreaked havoc across Ireland and parts of the UK causing power cuts and widespread damage.
Families in Ireland have described the devastating damage to their homes after Storm Eowyn wreaked havoc throughout the country.
Shane Egan, 33, from Ballinasloe, Co Galway said his family was lucky their house did not collapse on top of them as record-breaking winds caused destruction and power shortages across Ireland and parts of the UK.
Mr Egan, a train driver, was in Manchester at a football match with his oldest son on Thursday night when he received a message from his wife Emma who described hearing an almighty crash.
“My wife was in the house with my other two sons and at about three o’clock in the morning, she heard a big crash and the house shook,” Mr Egan told the PA news agency.
“She texted me again at five in the morning saying, ‘Shane, I’m so scared’.
“The doors in the house were opening and slamming. The wardrobes were moving, everything was shaking.”
Ms Egan, 35, who was unable to go outside to assess the damage that night due to safety concerns, received a knock on her door on Friday morning from a neighbour telling her her house was “falling down”.
She went outside to discover a pile of bricks and slates on the ground after the gable end of their home had given way.
Mr Egan, who didn’t get home until 11pm on Friday night, said they were lucky it collapsed in the way it did, otherwise, his family would have ended up beneath the rubble.
“We’re lucky it didn’t collapse from the bottom in,” he said.
“It looks like it fell in one piece, the whole lot.”
If it had collapsed in another way “they would have been underneath”, he added.
Mr Egan says he has been blown away by an outpouring of support from the Ballinasloe community.
Local people and friends have been helping the couple to make the building safe ahead of Storm Herminia, which is due to hit Ireland and the UK on Sunday.
A GoFundMe page set up by a friend has raised more than 9,000 euros (£7,500) to help with materials, tools and rebuilding work.
The family has been told their insurance company will send out assessors next week to survey the damage.
“One of my friends is out there on a cherry picker. They’re getting ready to start temporary repair work because there’s another storm promised tomorrow night or Monday,” said Mr Egan.
“The room underneath my youngest son’s room, that was ruined because all the rain got in and seeped through the ceiling.
“You don’t really see how many people are around you until something like this happens.”
Johanna Krijnsen, 34, from Lisdonvarna, Co Clare, said parts of her roof had blown off in the storm.
Ms Krijnsen, originally from Utrecht in the Netherlands, said around 10 trees on their land have been ripped up, one of their polytunnels has folded in half and they are still without power.
“This really was the biggest storm we’ve ever experienced here in Ireland,” the mother-of-four told PA.
“We’re on the West Coast, about 20 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. I think we got the full smack of it.”
Ms Krijnsen said her husband has attempted to repair their roof with plastic and old tiles, while they wait for a roofer to fix it properly next week.
The couple, who have an eight-year-old daughter with Down’s Syndrome and a five-year-old son who has non-verbal autism, are trying their best to manage with the disruption and power cuts.
“Our son is so used to his routines and they’re just not there at the moment,” said Ms Krijnsen.
“So that makes it hardest for him emotionally.”
Ms Krijnsen has also started a GoFundMe page to help to raise funds fix their roof and to replace their polytunnel as it is essential for her children’s learning and development.
