"Tornado" shocks Thorney Island woman as gales which sounded "like a bomb" bring down trees and shakes house

Becky Mason, of Thorney Island, was sitting at home when the “tornado” hit the property. She said the strong winds struck her house at 8.30pm - picking up a heavy trampoline and flinging it across the garden.

“I’ve never heard wind like it,” she told The News as tree surgeons continued their work to clear the garden. “It felt like you could hear it from the back garden. It went through the house and it almost shook. I had no idea what was going on. I thought it was a bomb or something, it was nothing like I had ever heard before. I ran upstairs to check on my son and by the time I looked out the window, it was silent. It was really weird.”

Ms Mason said she looked out her patio doors with her phone torch and saw the fallen tree and trampoline. “It’s a heavy 14ft trampoline and has never moved in the three years we’ve been here. It literally flew. Whatever this minute-long thing was, it flew it from the bottom corner right up to our kitchen window. I thought it would have smashed windows, but it hasn’t. I don’t think it has done much damage to the property.”

A large tree between Ms Mason’s house and the neighbours has been brought down, with two trees being brought down in total. She’s thankful that no one was hurt, but her neighbours have had to leave their address. “They didn’t stay in their house last night and had to go into emergency accommodation,” she added. “It was deemed unsafe for them to stay in the house. It was really bizarre. You understand wind and rain but this was something else. It all seemed to happen at once. There were loads of reports of trees blocking the roads. It was all within the timeframe of whatever this extra strong wind tornado thing was. Me and my neighbour both said it must have been something like a tornado.”

Ms Mason said the southern part of Thorney Island was affected, but residents in the northern half did not report any incidents. Emergency services, including the fire service and coastguard, were not called out to any incidents. Residents in Hayling Island have reported similar incidents, with dinghies being upturned, tiles being blown from roofs and damaging cars, and wheelie bins being thrown around by strong winds. Some have made reports to Torro, the UK's Tornado and Storm Research Organisation.

Jonathan Hulls, Liberal Democrat councillor for Hayling West and leader of HM Coastguard on Hayling Island, said the phenomena he referred to as a “mini twister” only impacted certain streets. These included Bosmere Road, Wheatlands Avenue and the Sandy Point area. Cllr Hulls said he has experienced a few of these weather patterns in the 16 years he has lived on the island. “They can be very localised,” he said. “The road next to it would not know that it happened. It does suggest that it’s a mini twister or tornado, but it was a very localised event.”

The Met Office said they could not confirm if a tornado hit Thorney Island, Hayling Island or Emsworth last night, with no evidence of the weather system touching ground. A tornado is formed when a funnel cloud reaches the earth’s surface.