Man hospitalised after freak wind lifted tent

Katie Mellett

A man required hospital treatment after a strong gust of wind blew his family's tent up into the air in Co Cork.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Joe O'Connor's tent was lifted by the wind and dragged him and his family into the side of their car.

The freak incident left Mr O'Connor in need of medical attention after he hit his head of the car's wing-mirror and injured his knee, leaving him unable to drive. His family was also left with minor injuries, including his daughter who sustained a hip injury.

The O'Connors, who are frequent campers, had been camping at the Eagle Point site in Bantry Bay.

Speaking to Neil Prendeville on Cork's RedFM on Monday, Mr O'Connor explained the family had been unable to sleep due to the "deafening" rain hitting the tent.

He said it was an eight-person tent, adding there was "about 30 pegs holding this tent down". Inside it had kitchen hobs, tables, televisions and a double bed, he added.

At approximately 2am, the tent took off after wind that "came out of nowhere," he said, and dragged for 15–20 feet before it was flung into the side of the family's car.

Despite hitting the car first and injuring his head against a wing-mirror, Mr O'Connor managed to escape out the tent's front door and helped his daughter and wife to exit the tent's back door.

"The beams of the tent started to dip and within two seconds the whole side of the tent was on top of us and we were being dragged across the pitch," he said.

O'Connor likened the wind hitting the tent to a train as it "definitely took a path of destruction", and described the ordeal as "frightening" and "extraordinary".

The wind also flipped a caravan in the area, leaving it smashed to pieces, and also lifted another tent.

"Thank God everyone was fine," Mr O'Connor added.

The O'Connors spent the rest of the evening in a makeshift bedroom inside a nearby hut and headed home the following morning despite plans to spend another night at the campsite.

Mr O'Connor said that "is the end of the camping for now" and joked that this trip was his first time in Cork and may be his last.