'Mini tornado' causes havoc ripping off roofs and bringing down trees

A 10-YEAR-OLD boy who filmed what witnesses described as a "tornado" had to run for cover as it ripped through Ashley, near New Milton.

Tyler Kirby was videoing the storm as it approached his grandmother’s home in Lower Ashley Road but he had to dive for safety as debris rained down on him.

Footage of the moment yesterday afternoon (Sunday) shows Tyler shouting: “We’re inside the tornado – go, go, go!”

As he and other relatives run inside, a window at the house shatters with Tyler exclaiming; “Oh my god! Oh my god!”

Mum Stacey Kirby told the A&T: “It was quite scary towards the end, the wind was just crazy. It was lifting greenhouses out of gardens and they were just disappearing.

“As you can see from Tyler’s footage, it hit his nan’s garden and stuff just started going everywhere.

"He was so excited to catch the tornado but it’s just unbelievable when you watch it to see how bad the wind was.

“I’m just glad no one was injured in the area.”

The so-called mini tornado was spotted out at sea in the Solent before making landfall and wreaking havoc.

Later, high winds in Ashley brought down a huge tree in the grounds of the infant school and closed roads.

Streets in New Milton, Barton and Lymington were also shut off by fallen trees.

One man reported how he saw the storm tear off the roof of a barn near the Aldi supermarket in Christchurch, saying: “It was like a scene out of Twister.”

Louise Dagleish, who lives in the town, revealed: “We had it come across our garden, up near Sainsbury’s in Christchurch. So scary.

“Literally ripped everything off the ground. Could hear a roar. Constant lightening overhead with it.

“Trampoline and debris flying as high as the house for about 10 seconds before ditching. Multiple items dumped into my and neighbours' gardens as it passed. Very, very scary.”

A metal roof on a farm building near the A337 Milford Road was torn off leaving debris across a large area.

At one stage Lymington and New Milton police posted on their Facebook page that they were “currently dealing with multiple trees and power lines down in the New Milton, Ashley and Tiptoe areas due to recent severe weather”.

In an update yesterday evening police thanked residents for the offer of “drinks and biscuits”, adding that they “managed to close as many roads as possible” after a tree brought down power lines around Barton, Ashley, New Milton and Tiptoe.

People in the area reported power cuts with SSEN saying that in New Milton engineers had had to cut electricity on Sunday night due to a tree down on overhead lines.

All day yesterday roofers were out in force in the area dealing with damaged roofs while tree surgeons were clearing trees from roads and gardens.

Firefighters responded to a number of incidents during Sunday's storm, including a vehicle stuck in floodwater at Keyhaven.

The alarm was raised shortly after 10pm, with reports a man and two dogs were trapped inside the marooned vehicle in Saltgrass Lane.

However, when crews from Lymington and Dorset arrived at the scene, the casualty was able to drive to safety.

The firefighters escorted remaining vehicles away from danger before leaving the scene just over half an hour later.

A Lymington crew had also attended a call-out shortly before 5.30pm to Wootton Road, Tiptoe, where a fallen tree was said to be smoking after hitting a power line.

But no action was required by them, and a Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks engineer isolated the power.