There were scenes of flooding along the quay and on some of the approach roads to the town on Sunday afternoon and a severe fall of hailstones during a thunder and lightning storm left some areas of the town resembling the depths of winter.
Some businesses in the centre of Enniscorthy were very badly affected including the Holy Grail restaurant and Wickham's butchers.
Biju Varavumkal, owner of the Holy Grail said the storm and resulting damage happened very quickly, during a very busy time in his restaurant.
"We were full in both the upstairs and downstairs restaurants and the hail and water came at the same time," he said.
"Within minutes there was two feet of water through the restaurant and down into the store room," he added.
Biju said the cause of the flooding was a blocked drain on the street outside which he tried to unblock himself but couldn't because of the ferocity of the hailstones. He also said there were 13 staff members working at the time and they all helped to get the water out using containers and buckets
However, a lot of the stock in the store room was destroyed and such was the power of the flow of water that metal canisters were strewn around the store area to the rear of the building.
"We had to close for three hours but thankfully, because of the last time, we have a good floor in and we were able to open again," said Biju, referring to the last time flooding caused his business to close with a similar issue around drains being blocked.
Although the hailstorm lasted a relatively short time the intensity caused a huge amount of concern in the town due to the flash flooding.
Biju said some stock in the store room was destroyed because of water damage which he estimated to be around one-and-a-half feet in the that area of the building at one point.
Source: Enniscorthy Guardian
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