Donegal pair evacuated from ‘torrential waterfall’ at popular caves in viral video

A video has gone viral online after a Donegal man and his wife had to evacuate Fermanagh’s Marble Arch Caves from a “torrential waterfall.”

Alistair Hay, from St. Johnston, and his wife, Kim Mahon, visited the popular tourist site during the weekend, in what was expected to be a pleasant visit. What occurred instead was described as “treacherous” by Alistair, who thanked the “fantastic” guides, who managed to escort the visitors to safety.

The video shared by the couple shows the moment that a torrential downpour in Fermanagh caused a cascade of water to enter the Marble Arch Caves whilst tourists and guides were inside, and their ensuing evacuation through the torrent of water.

“It has been a crazy day,” Alistair told Donegal Live. “We put the footage up, and at the time, we were not really scared, but on reflection, we realised just how dramatic things were and we went into full survival mode.

“The footage has been viewed millions of times. It is something we will never forget.”

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Explaining what happened, Alistair said: “We went up to the caves just for a normal Sunday afternoon. We went out for a drive and thought we would call into the caves.

“It was dry and not raining at all. We joined the tour at 4.15pm with about 17 in our group. As you go down, you get told the safety briefing, so we were not thinking too much of it. 

“In the first part of the tour, you go on a little boat trip. All was good, and the first thing that changed was that the power went out. Within 15 seconds, the power came back.”

It was around this time that heavy rain started to pour over Fermanagh, which caused flash flooding in Enniskillen.

“They radioed to the guides that were with us that there was heavy rain. We didn’t think it was going to be too severe, but when we were walking along the cave, all of a sudden, the water started to flow in the cave like a waterfall, completely out of the blue. 

“We had to go forward. We knew we were going to be pretty wet. That was the initial shock of getting soaked, but as we went on, we realised it was a full, torrential waterfall. That’s when it started getting treacherous. 

“There were 150 steps against a full waterfall, so it was heavy. There was water going down, and we were battling against the forces of the water. 

“The guides were fantastic and kept talking to us. They really knew what they were doing. They kept everybody calm and we all made our way out, but very wet.”