GALWAY bore the brunt of Storm Debi on Monday morning last with the coastal villages of Clarinbridge, Oranmore and Kinvara suffering damage that will cost well in excess of €1 million to repair.

A combination of 70mph winds, a sea surge, high tides and torrential rain has temporarily ‘wiped out’ seven retail units in Clarinbridge with up to 70 people out of work this week in the village as a result of the storm.

One of the worst hit businesses was Ronan Hennigan’s Londis supermarket in Clarinbridge where at one point on Monday morning last one of his employees – a deli manager – was trapped waist high in a water surge.

Fire brigade crews, the Gardaí and ambulances were on the scene at around 5am and the man was successfully rescued from the premises following the storm surge which had risen water levels by 10 or 12 feet.

Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council and Oranmore resident, Cllr. Liam Carroll, described the damage caused to the shops in Clarinbridge as ‘absolute devastation’.

“The damage has been horrendous. It will take well over a million, if not millions, of euro, to bring things back to what they were. We want to do everything in our power to ensure that these people are compensated for what happened.”

Caption: A section of the inside of the Londis Supermarket in Clarinbridge which was flooded during Storm Debi on Monday morning. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.

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