Enniscorthy businesses forced to shut after ‘abnormally’ heavy hail showers

Hail in Enniscorthy on Sunday Photograph: Carlow Weather Twitter

Some businesses in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, were forced to deal with flash flooding at their premises after very heavy hail and rain fell on Sunday. Temperatures suddenly plummeted followed by a heavy downpour of rain mixed with very large pieces of hail.

Wexford County Council dispatched crews to assist with the clean-up in the town, though some business also lost power, including pubs and restaurants with customers enjoying food and drink on their premises as the thunder showers broke out.

Met Éireann’s senior meteorological officer, John Hannon, said “falls of hail are commonly associated with thunderstorms”. However, he added “quite the hailstorm” had been experienced in Co Wexford on Sunday, with the extent of the hail seeming to be “abnormal”.

Diana Rigley, manager at The Holy Grail restaurant and bar on Market Square in Enniscorthy, told The Irish Times the hail was so heavy one of her staff could not move her car from outside the premises until the hail was cleared from the road around it.

“The council are here at the moment,” she said of the clean-up under way in the hours after the thunder storm downpour just after 3pm. “We had to get an electrician in because we lost out till, our card machine and phone. We had customers here at the time and water was flooding in through the doors. All they could do was run up stairs and leave their dinner. Some of them were also on the stairs watching the water coming in.”

Ms Rigley added her staff responded very quickly, using brushes and mops to clear the water flooding the premises, which helped to minimise the damage. However, though the shower lasted “for only five or 10 minutes” her business had to close for up to three hours, though they were eventually able to switch to providing takeaways for customers.

“I had a look and I could see the drains were blocked outside,” she said. “So we lost a lot of custom, about two or three hours, as we tried to get the water out.”

More images from near Enniscorthy of the large hail. Many people are shocked we can see hail in June but you can get hail at any time of year. pic.twitter.com/5YnQ8kNzch

— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) June 25, 2023

Social media users posted photographs and video of hail being cleared from the streets in Enniscorthy with others posting images of the very large pieces of hail that fell. The Carlow Weather Twitter account shared charts showing the temperature in the Bunclody area dropping by 7.8c in 30 minutes as the thunderstorm hit. The temperature fell from 21.3 to 13.5 before rising again to 18.8 after the heavy showers.

Conor Lally

Conor Lally is Security and Crime Editor of The Irish Times

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