“STORM BRIGID” PROMPTS RECOLLECTION OF DAMAGING GALES IN BY-GONE TIMES

“Storm Brigid” prompts recollection of damaging gales in by-gone times

By Liam Kenny

“Storm Brigid,” they called it, the first storm of February 2014. And whatever the citizens of Ireland have done to annoy the formidable Brigid she certainly got her revenge in by unleashing storms, gales and floods throughout the county. However, one of the advantages of living inland was that counties such as Kildare escaped the worst of nature’s fury as dramatically illustrated by the destructive tides which crashed on to the coastal shorelines destroying obstacles of man and nature with their unstoppable surge.

At least in these parts there was no danger of Suncroft being submerged in briny waters or of sea swells obliterating the canal quay at Robertstown. If the inland location protected Kildare from the worst of Brigid’s meterological fury the same could not be said for another February storm, the tornado of February 1903 which left devastation, injury and at least one fatality in its wake.

The Kildare Observer carried a graphic account of a late February storm in 1903 which was sourced on dramatic accounts of destruction reported from Athy, Monasterevin, and Naas among other locations.

From the first line of the report the enormity of the shock to the public caused by this monstrous wind was apparent: “The storm was in the opinion of many of the oldest residents of Naas and district, considered to be the most terrific in their memory.” It went on to say that slates and roof tiles had been sent crashing down on to the street and that pedestrians had a perilous time. In Naas at least there was no loss of life, but there were a few near misses. Mr. Denis “Daddy” Donohoe, shopkeeper of South Main Street, had the exciting but fortunate experience of just having left his bedroom at midnight when his sixteen foot chimney was toppled by the wind and came crashing into the room which he had vacated but moments previous.

Damage to property throughout the town was severe. One whose property was battered was Mr. Stephen J. Brown, County Councillor and Solicitor, whose exposed residence on the higher ground of the Tipper Road took the brunt of the gale. His garden and shrubberies on which he had spent a considerable sum, was, according to the Observer reporter, “a pitiable sight” after the gale swept through.

The storm ripped open corrugated roofs and sheds as if it was a tin opener. Messr. Farrell and Co.’s extensive agricultural stores were stripped of their galvanised sheeting which was carried a long off way. Between flying corrugated tin sheets capable of decapitating anybody they struck, and slates and tiles crashing from roofs, the streets of Naas were a hazardous place in the last days of February 1903.

And the inventory of damage did stop there. Mr. P. Malone of Lady had a shed blown away with another at Friar’s Mill suffering in the same way.

As with Stephen J. Brown’s devastated shrubbery the storm took a heavy toll of great deciduous trees which had been growing for a century or more. Oldtown Wood on the Sallins Road out of Naas showed signs of the havoc while in the mature woodlands of the Palmerstown House estate many of the finest trees were uprooted and damage done to newly erected greenhouses. Similarly, fine trees in the grounds the Hunt Kennels on the Newbridge Road, the Knocks on the canal, the Manse on the Dublin Road suffered badly.

The damage to cherished old forests was not confined to the Naas area with a report from Monasterevin that the forest on Mr. Dominick More O’ Ferrall’s estate, the result of a century’s planting, had been uprooted and the owner sustained a very great loss in his investment in growing timber.

The reports coming from Athy painted a scene of mayhem of apocalyptic proportions. The Kildare Observer reported that: “A roof 75 yards long by 25 wide was ripped of the Minch Norton maltings. The huge roof took flight over a distance before crashing into the nearby canal lock on the canal mutilating the heavy timbers of the lock as it fell.”  Proceeding up the town the streets were like a war zone with debris of slates, tiles and every conceivable version of gutters and pipes strewn on the pavement.

At the Presbyterian Manse a huge block of granite which had formed a window sill was torn from its place and hurled several yards such was the ferocity of the tornado.

A particularly unfortunate happening was the destruction to the “People’s Park” where “over twenty of the finest forest trees were torn out of the earth, demolishing perches of the boundary wall.”  The family of Mr. George Foley had a near miss when two elm trees crashed on to their house flattening the kitchen and dairy rooms which fortunately were not occupied at the time.

West Kildare did not escape the ravages of the violent climate. At Allenwood one wing of the iron chapel was blown down leaving the parish with a reconstruction bill of £130 (1903 prices) while in Robertstown the old hotel, then being used as police barracks was damaged and “the handsome little courthouse got a rough handling from the storm fiend.”

The most unfortunate loss of all was the single fatality arising from the devastation of the storm. It was reported that a gate-lodge at Downings (near Prosperous) was struck by a falling tree which propelled masonry into a room below inflicting injuries on the child Thomas Mullally. 

Storms make great copy for journalists and great nostalgia materials for historians but when a life is lost what appears to be a destructive but non-lethal weather event takes on a tragic character. Maybe Brigid having had her storm fit for the year would have a word with the weather gods and protect us from any repeat performance of the salvo of tornadoes which have blitzed the country in the early weeks of 2014.

Leinster Leader 11 February 2014, Looking Back, Series no: 369.