Workers and volunteers at the famous Clontarf Public Baths in Dublin have said their local "paradise" has been left "destroyed" by the impact of Storm Betty.
Speaking this afternoon as people in the local community began a clean-up operation of the iconic baths, workers and volunteers said the storm was like a "sea monster" which left the facility in "carnage, carnage, absolute carnage".
"We've been devastated by the storm that attacked last night," said Anne Miller, a lifeguard at the baths.
"To be honest it's very upsetting. It's paradise working here, and to see it like this after the work we've put in to keep it clean and safe, and it's just destroyed.
"There's a few of us here [taking part in a clean-up operation], the owner, a few volunteers. But it's going to be a few days, a week or two, before we get this place back to normal," she said.
Another lifeguard, Aoife Drumm, said the scene she witnessed as she arrived at the baths this morning.
"When I arrived, it was around 7.30 to 7.45am, and we couldn't see the pool.
"We were kind of going 'okay maybe it's okay', and then the water went down and when we saw the damage that was actually caused, that's when I got upset.
"This is home, this is paradise, this is a fun place to go to, and then you just saw it completely and utterly wiped out.
"It's like a sea monster vomited everywhere and smashed all the furniture."
Local resident Cathal Miller said he decided to volunteer to help clean-up the facility after the storm.
He said he has been coming to Clontarf baths since he was a young boy and wanted to give those involved "a bit of a dig out".
"[To say it's] a bit messy is a bit of an understatement. Carnage, carnage, absolute carnage. I'm sure there's an awful lot of people in similar circumstances here as well, but it's great to see everybody here giving a bit of a dig out," he said.
"At the moment we've the pumps out, we're washing out the water, clearing the mud, you can see yourself a lot of the stuff there has been damaged, everybody's digging in."
Nearby Clontarf Yacht Club was also affected by the storm, with club commodore Claire Meany saying that three boats have been damaged - including one which has been with the club for 45 years.
"It's been epic since about 6am this morning, we've now identified that we've three boats [affected] - the boat behind us here, a boat over on the rocks in East Wall, and, very sadly behind us, we have one of the oldest standing boats in our club [affected]," Ms Meany said.
"It's a Wooden Kestrel, it's been in our club for 45 years. We're hopeful there isn't too much damage and that the engine will still work," she said.
Bobby Nolan, the owner of Clontarf Outdoor pool was cleaning up this morning after the overnight damage.
He said: "We weren't anticipating the bad weather and then it really really turned around half past one, two in the morning."
Showing the area in the changing rooms, where the tide came up to, he said:"We were getting huge, huge waves...The tide came up here, all the way around and all the way back to the plant room."
He said 20 volunteers have been there all morning after the pool could not open at 8am as usual for lessons.
He says he is trying to remain positive about opening again in around three days time after the clean-up.
However, he added that nature always wins despite the recent precautions they have taken there.
"You can see the barriers at the end. We have 12 of them down there. 10 of them are absolutely mangled and destroyed," Mr Nolan said.
He added that the waves, along with the wind, had proved too much.
He said the last time something similar happened was three years ago and in August as well, when tonnes of seaweed went over the walls and into the baths.
"It's never the wintertime, it's August time you get these freak storms," he said, adding that despite global warming, efforts will continue to try to future-proof the baths.
"You're at the mercy of nature and nature wins every time. You've just got to stay upbeat about it."
Additional reporting: Eleanor Burnhill
