At the height of last Wednesday's storm, the owners of Batavia furniture and gift gallery in Fermoy, Noel and Majella O'Regan, got a call from a neighbour up the hill from them, to tell them their storage unit in Kilworth was being blown down by the hurricane-strength winds.

They raced to the scene to find it was even worse than they feared. Most of the storage unit had collapsed in on itself, as our pictures show. "The top was still standing but it wasn't stable," Majella explained.

It wasn't safe for them to try at that time to recover any of the furniture they had stored. Insulation from the shed was blowing across the fields and plastic from nearby silage bales was being whipped about by the wind. They felt it was unsafe to be outside in such conditions in case they were struck by something so they had to leave their stock to the elements until conditions were calmer to allow them inspect the damage.

They estimate damage and costs to be in excess of €100,000. Unable to find alternative storage in the short term, they've had to divide their stock and store it in garages and spare storage space in the homes of friends and relatives. They're waiting on the delivery of a container to provide more long term storage.

Noel and Majella were this week stoic about their loss, relieved that at least no-one was injured. Their showrooms and store on the Rathealy road were undamaged and it's business as usual for the couple and their staff.

Majella was even able to make light of their situation, pointing out, in one photo, glass in a display cabinet, intact, protruding from the collapsed shed.

'Furniture built to survive any storm!' she remarked. A unique selling point indeed for Batavia!

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