IT WAS a case of from bad to worse for New Ross this week as violent winds ripped the town apart just as it was trying to right itself following the horrific flooding that crippled the town last week.

Throughout today dramatic scenes were witnessed all over the town and surrounding areas as it was hit by storm force winds. Such was the ferocity of the gale that one whole section of roof was ripped from the Apex Swimming Pool and Leisure complex which only opened its doors to the public late last year.

The facility hasn’t even had an official opening ceremony yet and now it’s believed it will be months before it will open its doors again.

The debris from the roof was scattered across the complex’s yard and also fell into a section of the local Good Counsel College secondary school.

It’s not believed anyone was injured in the incident, however, thousands of Euro worth of damage was caused to the state-of-the-art building.

In the Rosbercon area of the town debris from the disused Albatros factory site was also causing concern because of the danger of asbestos in the air.

In the district numerous traffic arteries into the town were blocked because of fallen trees

and the N25 primary route and the N30 between New Ross and Ennsicorthy was also hit by fallen trees.

On one section of the road, near New Ross, a number of large trees fell across the road resulting in it being closed off to traffic for many hours.

The Gardai issued a warning for people to remain indoors unless absolutely necessary until the violent winds ceased.

Cllrs. Michael Sheehan and John Dwyer have called for an emergency meeting of the local authority to discuss  contingency plans in the wake of the events at the Apex and Albastros.

(For comprehensive coverage of all of the areas affected by the storm force winds see next week’s print edition of The Echo)