Storm Desmond: 'Eejit' teenagers caught on video doing backflips into wild sea while storm rages

Posting the video online, Cathay Devlin said the boys had displayed ‘absolute madness and stupidity’

A video has emerged which appears to show two teenagers doing backflips into rough seas as Storm Desmond raged off the west coast of Ireland.

Describing the boys as a pair of “eejits”, local Cathay Devlin said she was putting the footage on Facebook “to highlight the absolute madness and stupidity of what these youngsters are doing”.

Storm Desmond has brought high winds, heavy rain and extensive flooding sweeping across the UK and Ireland, and one 90-year-old man has died in London after reportedly being blown into the path of a moving bus.

The video of the two boys in Salthill, Galway, has been viewed on Facebook more than 1 million times since it was posted on Friday, just as the storm struck Ireland.

Ms Devlin wrote: “The voluntary and rescue services are kept busy enough without having to worry about this type of stupid behaviour.

“Obviously I was there to witness this madness and believe me [the sea] was very, very rough at the time. God forbid that they get into difficulties as there was no one else there to help if there was a problem.”

Deirdre Dooley, commenting on the video, wrote: “I think they are the biggest eejits going, the voluntary rescue have a lot on helping people the need it not having to worry about them fools.”

The west coast of Ireland has been hit hardest by Storm Desmond, and the Met Éireann issued a rare red-level national weather warning, which remained in place on Saturday.

Some 11,000 people suffered power outages, while strong winds and flooding resulted in widespread travel disruption.

In England, Cumbria remained the worst-affected region on Sunday morning, declaring a major incident amid what the fire and rescue services described as “unprecedented” flooding.

And in Scotland, severe weather warnings remained in place as the clean-up operation following the worst impacts of the storm got under way. Further rain and strong winds were forecast for Monday.