STORM IN ENGLAND

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1931, Page 9

STORM IN ENGLAND

MINIATURE TORNADO. . MANY HOUSES DAMAGED.

Thunderstorms, hail and gales were reported from many parts of England on Sepfembcr 3 and a miniature tornado, with an .estimated central velocity of 70 miles an hour, passed over Southsea. ■'Walls of houses were torn away, roofs were blown off and trees uprooted by the 'Southsea whirlwind, which lasted ohly 15 seconds and was followed by an eerie calm. Twenty houses were damaged, but no one was injured, although sheets of corrugated iron weighing 301 b. were hurled through the air for a quarter of a mile. In one street the back walls of two houses were torn away, brickwork crashing through the scullery.. A constable said he saw sheets of iron sailing through the air and skimming the tops °of houses. “Slates wei'e flying about,” he said, “and chimney pots were falling in all directions.” A 50ft tree was uprooted from a garden and ' smashed down a wall. Severe flooding occurred at Ashby-de-la iZouch, and traffic on the main road was held up for half au hour. Five houses, the homes of miners working at the Moira collieries, were flooded, alid women and. children had to take to the upstairs bedrooms for safety until they could be rescued. Damage estimated at £250 was done to a Bedford school when the roof was Struck by lightning. Thousands of tiles were split rind classroom ceilings damaged. A chimney stack was also demolished and fell through the roof. There was a cloudburst at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and the streets weie turned "’into rivers 15ft across. Three houses at Penn were extensively damaged when lightning struck a chimney stack, which crashed. An office at Amcrsham was struck by lightning Shops and cellars were flooded arnfthe ground floors of houses near the Thames became submerged.