Ballivor rescue "blessed" dogs unharmed after "mini tornado" batters home
A couple who run a dog rescue centre in Ballivor say they are "blessed" all of their animals are unharmed after a terrifying "mini tornado" tore the roof off a garden shed as Storm Isha battered the county.
Ramona Cunningham and Chris Kelly, who run Coolronan Dog Rescue in Ballivor were left shaken after the incident that saw pictures fly off the walls in their mobile home and left their dog pens in tatters.
"It hit here like a tonne of bricks," said Chris.
"I was outside and when I opened the door into the mobile home this gust came like some sort of mini tornado and I was thrown back against the shed," he added.
"We were terrified the roof was going to come off the dog shed and the dogs would be harmed.
"I'm a long time around and I have never seen anything like it.
"We are lucky because we have timber around the mobile home to the ground and it is insulated so the wind couldn't get under it, if we didn't we'd have been like the wizard of Oz, the mobile would have flipped."
Although there was some damage to out door structures, Chris says he and Ramona were only concerned for the safety of the 27 dogs housed in specially constructed pens outside.
"We lost a few fencing panels off the dog run, they didn't just fall down, they were destroyed," said Chris. The galvanised roof was ripped off the shed roof on both sides," he added.
"We were up until 3 o clock this morning taking turns checking the dogs every half hour to make sure nothing had come loose out there because god forbid something came down on them.
"There was one or two very nervous ones in it but once they see you they are happy enough."
The Husband and wife team who rehomed 143 dogs last year say they have a big clean up job to undertake to repair the damage.
"There is a lot of work now trying to get the dog run back in operation so we can get the dogs out for their exercise.
"They have three quarters of an acre to run around but they have indoor and outdoor pens so they can still get outside."