Lifeguards hospitalised, ‘biblical’ flash flooding and house fire caused by lightning strike across Kerry and Clare

Two lifeguards who were “in the vicinity of a lightning strike” on Banna Beach in Co Kerry have been taken to hospital for observation as a precautionary measure and a number of properties in Tralee experienced flooding after “torrential thunderstorm downpours”.

Met Éireann issued an orange weather warning, predicting thundery heavy downpours, lightning and potential flash flooding for seven counties throughout Saturday afternoon and evening and there were a number of incidents reported across the country.

Fire crews were at the scene of a house fire in north Clare which was believed to have been started by a lightning strike during a thunderstorm.

The alarm was raised shortly after 3pm. Emergency services received reports that a domestic property at Bishop’s Quarter on the N67 Ballyvaughan to Kinvara Road had suffered a lightning strike and was on fire.

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Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Kerry County Council confirmed that lifeguards were brought to University Hospital Kerry for monitoring after the lightning strike on Banna Beach.

“They are in good shape so I think it is strictly for observation,” he said.

He said Tralee in particular experienced “torrential thunderstorm downpours” for less than an hour on Saturday afternoon.

“It was really confined to Tralee town so there was flooding in a number of premises in Tralee town centre...the larger Dunnes on North Circular road in Tralee, there was an issue there. I think water came through the roof. The cinema was also impacted as was University Hospital Kerry,” he told The Irish Times.

“So it was very localised and very intense and it overwhelmed the drainage.”

University Hospital Kerry was heavily impacted with the main entrance road and an access road completely flooded and a number of departments were closed to the public. General manager Mary Fitzgerald appealed to the public not to come to the hospital outside of an emergency and “if it is absolutely necessary”.

Gardaí in Tralee, Co Kerry, advised motorists to avoid Castle Street and Connolly Park in the town after the incidents of serious localised flooding. A number of business properties were flooded including the Dunnes Stores and the cinema.

Maddens Coffee shop in Milk Market Lane had to be evacuated. Co-owner Rebekah Wall said the rain was “biblical”.

“We had a lovely morning and suddenly it just started to rain. We had a lot of customers in the courtyard who were taking shade from the sun and then it turned into a flash flood,” she told The Irish Times.

Ms Wall said Tralee previously flooded in 1985 “but we have never seen anything like that since”.

She acknowledged that “amazing” customers helped to bail water out of the shop. “We have a lot of regulars who took off shoes and socks and started bailing out with buckets. They poured it out the window. The customers saved the day.”

A regular customer also brought some sand bags along after the rain had subsided.

Maddens has a polished concrete floor which dates from 1856 which meant the water damage was minimal.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of properties in Tralee which were not as fortunate as us. There has been serious destruction,” she said.

One of the properties was the Omniplex cinema in Tralee where the water came in the front door and flooded many of the screens. “It was like a scene out of the Titanic,” she said.

Tralee local Francis Fitzgibbon said the thunderstorm was “surreal” given that only a half an hour beforehand it had been hot and sunny.

“Ironically, I was in buying a barbecue and the stone was splitting the stones. It was hot and warm. I felt I was getting burned,” he said.

“Then the weather took a turn and started bucketing down. I have never seen weather like it. It was too dangerous to drive. We were all caught off guard.”

A video shot by Mr Fitzgibbon was taken outside the Austin Stacks GAA pitch in Tralee. He says a lot of water came down Rock Street. The Garveys SuperValu in the town was flooded for a time and the owners of the Madden coffee shop in the town had to bail it out.

Sorcha Kennelly was shopping with her mother Bernadette in the Dunnes Stores in Tralee when she could hear the rain hammering on the roof.

Sorcha had finished paying for some goods at 2.45pm when she noticed two young girls at a till opposite who noticed a trickle of water coming down from the ceiling.

“The rain was loud all of a sudden. Little drops were coming. As soon as it started in one place staff were getting buckets, but then it started in another place,” she said.

“Once there was enough water coming through, the square tiles on the roof started coming down. Then it was a real safety hazard as it was coming through the light fittings.”

Ms Kennelly said it all happened very quickly and within five minutes of the water coming through the roof, staff announced the evacuation of the store.

Bernadette said Dunnes Stores staff acted promptly in dealing with the emergency. “They were amazing. They did their best to make sure that everybody stayed safe.”

[ Status orange weather warning: Thunder, lightning and very heavy downpours expected ]

Elsewhere in the north Clare area, a severe thunderstorm and fork lightning was reported over a wide area with heavy downpours of rain just after 3pm. At the time of the incident, Clare was under a status yellow thunderstorm warning. That alert was later upgraded to status orange. Met Éireann had warned that “frequent lightning” could be a possible result of the thunderstorm.

Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennistymon station responded to an incident of a house fire along with gardaí. Three fire appliances including a water tanker were dispatched to the scene.

On arrival at the location, emergency services found the roof of the dormer bungalow well alight and quickly set about tackling the blaze. Two teams of firefighters wearing breathing apparatus were also committed to the building but had to retreat.

It’s not clear whether there were any persons in the house at the time however the property was empty when fire crews arrived. One person could be seen being comforted by neighbours on the roadside close to the scene.

Locals also rallied to help and directed traffic at the scene keeping the roadway clear for arriving fire crews. The scene is on the Wild Atlantic Way route which was busy with traffic at the time.