Archive - Houses destroyed by hurricane and pigs electrocuted by lightning in Kilkenny (1974)

Hurricane force winds of up to 90 miles an hour which swept the country on Friday night caused unprecedented damage in the South-East.

The most destructive storm since 1903 ravaged the countryside. Many were left homeless while others had miraculous escapes from serious injury.

Houses were blown down, roofs went flying and hundreds of trees were sent crashing. Almost every road was blocked and most areas were isolated.

Whirling winds sent slates into the air, mangled television aerials and hurtled galvanised roofs and fencing in all directions.

Cattle were killed by falling trees after bolts of lightning had split them and a number of pigs were electrocuted when a piggery was blown down.

Two families had narrow escapes when their mobile homes were toppled. In Callan a young married couple crawled through the window of their tumbled home, clutching their young infant. The home was completely destroyed.

At Warrington on the Bennettsbridge Road another young married couple were thrown from their bed when their mobile home toppled over.

About 600 trees on the McCalmont Estate at Mount Juliet were toppled. Hundreds more crashed in Abbeyleix Demesne and at Johnswell. Hundreds more were thrown down, blocking the roadway and knocking telegraph poles.

On Saturday morning Kilkenny City was a shambles. Falling trees ripped up footpaths and blocked roads. Roads were littered with flying slates which had smashed many windows and left gaping holes in roofs. A sizeable part of the roof of the Auxiliary Hospital at Wolfe Tone Street was also ripped off.

With roads throughout the county strewn with trees, milk, bread and other deliveries were delayed for hours on Saturday, Postal services were also badly hit.