Irish woman escapes landslide that threw car through kitchen wall
Bernie Kearney's home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
URRIS, Ireland (Reuters) - Torrential rains in northwest Ireland, described by the country's weather office as a once-in-a-century event, triggered a landslide that sent a car flying through the wall of a house earlier this week.
No casualties have been reported as a result of the rains on Tuesday, which totaled up to 80 mm (3 inches). Bridges collapsed, homes flooded and authorities moved to deploy defense forces in flood-hit areas from Friday.
Bernie Kearney's home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Bernie Kearney, a medical receptionist who lives in the northern county of Donegal, was dining alone in her kitchen on Tuesday evening when a landslide hit the hill beside her house.
Kearney said in a telephone interview that she heard a loud bang and "the kitchen tumbled in around me."
"I'll never forget it. It was terrible. The roar of it coming down the mountain. I didn't know what it was."
Bernie Kearney's looks out from her destroyed home, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Kearney escaped by climbing out a window. She was not injured.
In the light of day, Kearney discovered that the landslide had thrown a boulder against her car, pushing it into her kitchen.
The damage was captured in Reuters pictures on Thursday that show her silver hatchback sitting high on a pile of mud and rubble, with its roof touching the eaves of her bungalow. The property has been condemned.
Bernie Kearney's home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Kearney is staying with relatives while searching for alternate accommodation and dealing with her insurers. Local authorities have been attempting to clear rubble from the property.
(Additional reporting by Clodagh Kilcoyne; Writing by Mark Hanrahan in London; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Mud is seen through a window in Bernie Kearney's home, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneThe roof of Bernie Kearney's home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneBernie Kearney's bedroom in her destroyed home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneThe kitchen of Bernie Kearney's destroyed home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car (seen here behind the kitchen window) came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneThe kitchen of Bernie Kearney's destroyed home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car (seen at the kitchen window) came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneBernie Kearney's bedroom in her destroyed home is seen, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneMud partially fills the window view in a room in Bernie Kearney's destroyed home, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneMud seeps from the doorway of a room in Bernie Kearney's destroyed home, after a landslide carrying a boulder and her car came through the house, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneMud is seen outside the window of Bernie Kearney's kitchen at her home, destroyed by a landslide, after torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneA clean up operation is underway after torrential rains washed away a section of main road in Quigley's Point, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneA clean up operation is underway after torrential rains washed away a section of main road in Quigley's Point, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneBernie Kearney, a medical receptionist, poses for a photograph inside her home, which has been destroyed by a landslide of mud after torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneA clean up operation is underway after torrential rains washed away a section of main road in Quigley's Point, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneA clean up operation is underway after torrential rains washed away a section of main road in Quigley's Point, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneA clean up operation is underway after torrential rains washed away a section of main road in Quigley's Point, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneA clean up operation is underway after torrential rains washed away a section of main road in Quigley's Point, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneA clean up operation is underway after torrential rains washed away a section of main road in Quigley's Point, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneOutside mud blocks most of the light entering Bernie Kearney's bathroom, after it was destroyed by a landslide, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneThe ice cream and fruit bowl is seen, which Bernie Kearney was eating when a landslide, carrying a giant boulder and her car, came through the kitchen window, during torrential rains in Urris, County Donegal, Ireland August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
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