TORRENTIAL downpours in the closing days of August led to flooding in Claregalway and also the partial collapse of a cinema roof and walls in Galway city.

Record rainfall through last Thursday (August 28th)  — 30.1mms or 1.2 inches at the Met Éireann station in Athenry — led to an evacuation of the Eye Cinema in Wellpark that evening.

Cinemagoers at the Eye Cinema in Wellpark experienced real life drama at screens 8 and 9 when part of the roof/ceiling collapsed as well as an internal partition shortly before 6pm on Thursday evening last.

Units of Galway Fire Brigade were on the scene shortly after and one woman was hospitalised as a precautionary measure — she is understood to have made a good recovery.

There were only a small number of people in the cinema at the time when part of the roof caved in at the Screen 8 and 9 areas.

“We were just watching a film on Screen 8 — there weren’t too many people in the cinema at the time — and suddenly part of the roof just caved in and there was water everywhere.

“We couldn’t get out through the main door but left through the fire escape — some people made their way out ankle deep in water,” one person who was in the Screen 8 seating told the Connacht Tribune.

He said that the weight of the roof water seemed to have been the cause of the ceiling collapse which had also led to the partial collapse of a partition.

Pictured: Water pouring from the Eye Cinema last Thursday after a roof partially collapsed during heavy rainfall.

Damage to the cinema’s roof, ceilings and internal partitions is expected to run into tens of thousands of euros with the cinema being closed down following the incident: there is no indication yet as to when the facility will re-open.

There were also traffic disruptions in Claregalway last Thursday afternoon and evening following the heavy rains, with extensive flooding on the Claregalway Hotel side of the N83 Galway to Tuam section of road.

According to the Met Éireann monthly report on August weather, the dramatic change in West of Ireland and Irish weather conditions — from sunshine and high temperatures to flooding — started on the 25th day of the month.

“On Monday, the 25th, the weather pattern shifted dramatically as ex-hurricane Erin, named by the US National Hurricane Center, moved into the mid-latitudes while transitioning into a mid-latitude storm, and stimulating the North Atlantic jet stream.

“Erin’s remnants stalled between Ireland and Iceland, steering several weather fronts, showery troughs and other low- pressure systems across the country from the west in a strong westerly airflow, with the heaviest rainfall in the West,” the Met Éireann report noted.

Despite August delivering a generally extended dry period of weather from the 5th to the 24th, overall rainfall for the month was well above the average at the Athenry Met Éireann station — 147mms (5.8 inches) or 42.5mms above the long-term average for our eighth month.

The rainfall ‘hit’ arrived from August 25th to the 31st, with 88.4mms (3.5 inches) recorded at the Athenry station in that six-day period.

Abbeyknockmoy weather recorder, Brendan Geraghty, told the Connacht Tribune that over the June, July and August summer period, rainfall was well above the average — even though there were also extended dry, sunny and warm spells of weather. “As for last weekend, I suppose it was a case of, when it rained it poured,” he quipped.

Pictured: The scene inside the Eye Cinema in the wake of the drama.