Galway Bay fm newsroom - Residents in Roundstone will be without a church over the coming days after a lightning strike caused damage to Our Lady Star of the Sea Church.
The strike happened in the early hours of this morning during high winds and heavy rainfall from Storm Georgina.
Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Roundstone is perched on the edge of the Atlantic in West Connemara.
At around 6 this morning, during the tail end of Storm Georgina, the bell tower of the church suffered a direct lightning strike.
The impact damaged the building's electrical wiring and cracked the exterior of the bell tower.
Parish Priest Father Kyzysztof Sikora says experts are being brought in to assess the damage - but the building will be closed until further notice.
He's hopeful the church will re-open by Sunday - and in the meantime, mass will be said in the local community hall.
The adverse weather this morning also resulted in a number of collisions and crashes on routes across Galway.
The M17 motorway from Tuam to the Rathmorrisey junction was closed in both directions for a time to allow emergency services clear the scenes of several collisions.
No-one was seriously injured in any of the incidents.
The storm also resulted in power outages in Roundstone, Recess, Moycullen and Furbo for a few hours, but ESB crews have since fixed the faults and restored the power supply.
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