Residents of a Cheshire suburb have spoken about the 'tornado' that came out of nowhere and left their neighbourhood looking 'like a warzone'.
The bizarre weather hit parts of Widnes on Wednesday - and footage circulated on social media showing the damage it had left in its wake.
Videos and pictures showed damage to cars, windows, walls and bins and ornaments, CheshireLive reports.
John Hatton lives on Greenwich Avenue where the tornado passed through.
READ MORE:
He described the ordeal as 'madness'.
He told CheshireLive that the 'tornado' came out of nowhere and shook the house for 20-30 seconds, causing damage to his home and car.
He said: "I was in the back kitchen preparing my lunch and it just seemed to get windy really quickly, and then everything was blowing in air, there was fence panels blowing round, noises, the house seemed to shake for 20-30 seconds and then calm all of a sudden.
"It arrived from nowhere, hit us and then went, me and my wife came out of the house and it was like a film set, tiles were everywhere, bins were all over the place, you could see damage to the car.
"Just crazy, madness to experience it, it was all surreal.
"My car’s been written off and there’s quite a lot of damage inside the house the living room window has shed glass all over the living room.
"I have no idea how much this is going to cost me.
"Insurance company have been great so far and the council response was brilliant."
Jill O’Neil also lives on Greenwich Avenue and says the scene was like a 'warzone' but she is relieved that nobody was hurt.
She said: "It was like a warzone!
"I started hearing banging in the house and I went into my back room and my window lights were smashed through.
"I came out and there were cars parked randomly, people’s walls had fallen down, bins started flying past and it was really scary.
"Everybody’s been really great coming together and the council have been really impressive.
"My poor car has been damaged by the bricks and the rocks, I’ve only had it for a couple of weeks.
"Nobody’s hurt, that’s the most important thing at the end of the day.
"It came from nowhere, it’s just crazy."
Sheila Branegan was babysitting her grandson when she saw the sudden and frightening change in the weather.
She told CheshireLive: "I watched the bushes and thought, gosh, ‘its getting windy’ and it was literally seconds and it was swirling.
"The blue bins were flying through the sky, fences, everything was just blowing in it, it was like something on tv.
"It didn’t look real, but it was the noise that was frightening. Things were clashing, banging and glass was breaking, that was the most frightening thing."
Cheshire Police confirmed that at 12.25pm they were called to reports of damage in the Widnes area caused by a ‘mini tornado’.
A number of road closures were put in place including Camberwell Road at the junction of Moorfield.
There have been no reports of any injuries.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: "At 12.25pm on Wednesday 20 October police received reports of damage in the Widnes area.
"The damage includes a wall falling down, windows of cars smashed and debris on Camberwell Road.
"A number of road closures are in place including Camberwell Road at the junction of Moorfield.
"Damage has also occurred to the garage of a property on Kensington Close.
"There have been no reports of any injuries.
"The damage has been reported to police as being caused by a mini tornado."
.jpg?w=600)
