THE single worst storm in living memory in Kerry struck the county with an almighty force exactly 50 years ago this week.

Hurricane Debbie uprooted and cracked hundreds of trees, destroyed roofs, knocked down church belfries, electrocuted a cow and posed serious threat to scores of people as slates and branches were sent flying everywhere in its path.

At least one dog was reported to have disappeared as the hurricane reached the peak of its visit to Kerry between 8am and 12noon on Saturday, September 16, 1961.

"Grim Tale of Havoc and Damage in Kerry," read the headline in The Kerryman, describing it then as 'the most disastrous gale in living memory' and cataloguing the damage wreaked in every part of the county.

Debbie formed off the west coast of Africa (causing 60 deaths in a plane crash off the Cape Verde islands) and reached category three status in the midAtlantic before turning northeast for Ireland and whipping the west coast on its journey north. The highest wind speed recorded in Kerry at Valentia was 88 knots (101 mph) the morning Debbie hit.

Miraculously, no one in Kerry was killed in the devastation (16 died nationally) although many survived near misses with flying slates and branches. Killorglin man Paul McMahon managed to block a slate rocketing towards him on the morning with his hand. Dingle man Eamonn O'Loughlin walked away unscathed when a telegraph pole smashed down on the bonnet of his car.

A farmer in Knocknagoshel watched as his prize pomeranian dog was swept away along with the roof of an outhouse it had been lying on when Debbie hit.

A man in Tralee town park was knocked away by the wind as the tree he was sheltering under came crashing down in the storm.

In Day Place, Tralee, a chimney collapsed down three storeys of a house causing considerable damage. Race stands in Tralee and Listowel Racecourse were were damaged (while the bunting and lights up for the Harvest Festival in Listowel somehow survived intact).

A field of stooked corn in Ballybunion was swept away as if it had been sucked up by a giant vacuum cleaner, locals said. 50-foot trawler Ros Caoin in Caherciveen Quay was broken from its moorings and driven up the harbour where it smashed into a bridge and went under as its owner was restrained from trying to jump on it to avert the disaster. Scores of other boats similarly broke moorings and went down.

The belfry was blown off Abbeydorney Church and a cow was electrocuted by a damaged ESB line in Reenrusheen Iveragh, among a hundred other tales of destruction that morning.