Three-metre snow wall in Glan Gap

As the Arctic conditions returned to Cavan last week with a vengeance, the Glan gap area in the west of the county witnessed records depths of snow, over several miles of road. The Cavan County Council man tasked with clearing the three-metre wall of snow off the winding road was Paul McGovern. He said it was unbelievable and a number of ESB trucks and other vehicles were abandoned. The snow came down in waves on Tuesday evening and well into the night and many people woke up in the area with snow half way up their windows. ESB vehicles got caught up in the drift on Tuesday evening and weren't cleared until Thursday morning - the road was blocked with the wall of snow from Tuesday night until Thursday morning. Paul had to plough through the mountain of snow with the council snow plough, which pushed the snow out to one side and left the road clear. It was amazing to see cars driving past a wall of snow on either side of the road last Thursday evening, and sightseers came from near and far to witness a once in a lifetime snow drift. It is feared that a lot of sheep and lambs were lost in the major snow fall and farmers were counting the cost as the snow melted away on Friday and Saturday. Paul said he had to plough his way through a wall of snow which went on for a distance of four miles. Kathleen McGovern told The Anglo-Celt on Thursday evening that she had never seen the like of this snowfall before. Cllr. Peter McVitty took the Celt on a tour of the snow wall area in Glan Gap last Thursday evening and we were amazed at the sight that unfolded before our eyes as we drove along the road. Cllr. McVitty said he was born in the Black Rocks area and he had never seen anything like it before. "I was speaking to the older generation in recent days and they intimated that the last time they saw snow like this, was back in 1947," he said. There was a major snowfall in 1982 but nothing to touch the avalanche of snow that fell on this occasion. "As you can see here for yourself, the drifts are unreal and thankfully nobody was injured. It was dangerous and unfortunately a lot of farmers will have lost sheep and lambs," said the councillor.