TORNADOS IN AUGUST!
Twisters tear across the skies as downpours drench Britain
THEY look like scenes from the twister season in America’s MidWest ... but this is Great Britain in high summer.
As dark skies dumped torrential downpours on the country yesterday, tornado-like funnels were seen spiralling from the thunder clouds.
An Atlantic storm brought flash flooding to vast swathes of the country, with up to a month’s worth of rain falling on parts of south and east England and turned roads into rivers.
The funnel clouds were spotted in Kent, Cornwall and South Wales, while further north emergency services scrambled to rescue hundreds of people caught up in flash floods in parts of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Drivers had to abandon their cars in the deluge and residents of the seaside town of Withernsea, East Yorkshire, woke up to water 3ft deep in places.
Just about every part of the country got a soaking yesterday as the great August washout raged on.
The Met Office said the worst hit areas experienced up to 2in of rain – the average for the whole of August. Today will bring a respite before the rain returns in time for the weekend, forecasters said.
Damon Webb, 46, was on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, when he saw a large tornado-like formation accompanied by ferocious winds, hail and thunder claps that ‘sounded like bombs falling from the sky.’
In Cornwall Matt Stansfield, 32, a storm-chasing photographer from Saltash, was finally able to capture the weather image that has always eluded him after seeing a funnel cloud through his window.
He said: ‘ Whenever there’s weather, I get in the car and drive to capture the storms. To get this out the window at home is quite a
‘Thunder sounded like bombs falling’
surprise.’ Funnel clouds are formed when a rotating column of wind draws in water droplets from the atmosphere. This makes a region of intense low pressure visible.
Crucially, a funnel cloud will often not reach the earth’s surface. At the point it does, it becomes a tornado. Britain sees around 30-35 tornados each year, though it is very rare that are they strong enough to cause significant damage.
Another was seen in Pontypool, South Wales, while a lightning storm set light to a block of flats in Ashford, Kent.
On the roads, police lambasted drivers for tearing down flooded motorways at more than 70mph.
One Thames Valley Police traffic officer said: ‘Even main roads are dangerous because of all the surface water. You only have to hit that at speed and it’s like running into a lake and you lose control.’
Forecaster Nicola Maxey said: ‘We’re looking at mostly fine and dry today, but there will be still be a few isolated showers around.
‘On Friday another weather front crosses the country. It will start bright and dry in south, central, and eastern areas but the cloud will build and winds will strengthen.’