Daring rescuers save nearly 40 dogs after the roof of the kennel was demolished in wild storm Arwen

ALMOST 40 dogs were rescued after the roof of a kennel was demolished during the deadly Arwen Storm.

Greyhound trainer Tom Heilbron discovered the site of devastation yesterday morning after the ceiling was ripped from the building and blown 30 meters away in gusts of nearly 100 miles per hour.

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Fortunately, the dogs at Link Kennels in Trimdon, County Durham were not injured and were quickly moved to other nearby kennels to be kept pending repair.

The approximately 35 x 7 meter roof landed on a nearby farm field. Owner Tom said it was beyond repair.

The 30-year-old said: “The storm actually tore off the entire ceiling and brought it to a field of farmers 30 meters away.

“It took all of the electrics, all of the plumbing, and most of my equipment, it basically tore the place apart.

“At first we thought someone had broken into the kennel, but when I opened the door, water was splashing all over the place.

“We looked down first to catch the dogs, but when we looked up we found that the roof was gone.

“The roof cannot be repaired, the storm tore everything down.”

The top priority of Tom and his kennel hands was to make sure the dogs were safe and well.

He added, “I think it was called off just before our descent because there was no noise overnight and they weren’t in distress.

“Of all 37 dogs, one had a tiny nail cut into it. The kennel was five feet under water because of the burst water pipe, but we raised metal beds to keep the dogs safe.

“We put them in vans and took them to alternative locations within about an hour of finding out what had happened.

“They have all gone to different dog trainers that they have put on for me and we will visit them every day and work from there.

“We are supposed to be at a big race in Towcester Tuesday night, which could be a disaster, but the main thing is that you are safe.”

No schedule has been set to secure a new roof for the kennels, which are a short walk from Tom’s house, but he doesn’t think it will be cheap.

He added, “I had offers of £ 20,000 plus to put a roof back on, even before the lost equipment was taken into account.

“We’ve been bringing brand new stuff out in the last few weeks and they’ve all been torn to pieces, the damage is incredible.

“THE DAMAGE IS INCREDIBLE”

“Without a doubt, this is the worst damage I have ever seen. A fence is expected to fall over or damage parts of it, but not that.

“I try to fix parts and pieces, but until I have a roofer it’s hard, I just want to get my dogs back.

“Unfortunately for the farmer it ended up in his field, but I will correct that.

Britain was hit by the gale winds of Storm Arwen last night, with three people tragically losing their lives due to the wild weather.

Headmaster and father of four Francis Lagan was killed on Friday in Antrim, Northern Ireland, when a tree fell on his car.

A 35-year-old driver died under similar circumstances on the B977 in Aberdeenshire at around 5:45 p.m. on Friday while a third person was fatally crushed by a falling tree in Ambleside, Cumbria.

Snow covered the UK as temperatures dropped to minus 10 ° C and yellow weather warnings for ice cover rallied in central, eastern and southern England and northeast Scotland.

A snow warning also applies to central and northern England from Sheffield to Milton Keynes, which could bring up to 2 cm into the region.

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