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from the Hull Daily Mail/East Riding Mail Friday, June 12

People in East Riding coastal villages have spoken of their disbelief after seeing a tornado sweeping through fields and streets. The rare phenomenon was spotted sweeping through several villages shortly after 11am yesterday.

One witness, Neville Miles, a country stores manager at Tony Cook Ltd, Burstwick, saw the tornado while making a delivery in Thorngumbald. He said: “It was quite amazing. It is certainly a rarity for East Yorkshire. I saw it spinning round and took a few pictures.

“I knew what I was looking at, having seen tornadoes on the television. “When I got back to my office in Burstwick the sky had gone very dark and I could see the tornado getting longer and longer, and then it disappeared.”

Another witness, Lewis Dobson, 20, spotted it from his home in Bilton. He said: “You don’t normally see tornadoes in this area. “I was following the storm in the direction of Hedon when I saw something unusual. It was weird. There was a small rotation and the funnel grew and grew and grew. Then I saw it touch down, maybe in the sea. “I phoned my family in Catwick, near Leven, and they said they had spotted it too.”

Mike Wasling, 43, and his daughter Hayley, 16, saw the tornado from their home in Keyingham. He said: “My daughter saw it rise from the fields behind our property and across the sky. “I saw it for about 20 seconds before it tailed off. It’s the first time we have seen one and it was quite a thing – to see it in front of your eyes was quite amazing.”

Pete North, 40, took a photograph of the tornado as he stood in his father’s allotment in Ottringham. He said: “I just thought ‘wow’ when I saw it. “You don’t expect to see that in a sleepy East Riding village. I’m from a farming background and you see tiny ones after harvest, but this was a lot bigger.”

Residents in Withernsea, Hornsea, Hedon, Bilton, Burstwick, Ottringham, Keyingham and Thorngumbald were among those who contacted the Mail with sightings.

The Met Office confirmed the tornado and said such freak weather acts happen only around 30 times a year in the UK. A spokeswoman said: “There have been some very active thunderstorms, which is what sets them off. “You need quite violent storms to have the kind of energy to generate these very intensive areas of low pressure. “The atmosphere has been in that kind of mood and is quite conducive, so the air can rise quickly and you get thunderstorms going.”

The Met Office said tornadoes are an unusual weather phenomenon in this part of the world. The spokeswoman said: “They are quite dramatic when you see them. They can cause damage, it depends on how severe they are. “Generally they don’t tend to last very long, it does depend on the intensity.”