Twister hits Wales! Holidaymakers run for cover as tornado rips through caravan park leaving trail of destruction
By Liz Hull
Last updated at 1:57 AM on 1st December 2011
The hardy souls who take a caravan holiday in North Wales at this time of year are well used to wet and windy weather.
But even they weren’t prepared for the 80mph tornado that ripped through their holiday park, throwing one mobile home 50ft.
Holidaymakers ran for shelter as the twister hit the Sandy Beach Caravan Park in Anglesey, destroying six caravans and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
Rubble: Sandy Beach Caravan Park was destroyed by the freak weather, which knocked down vehicles and sent families running for their lives
Violent storm: Mr and Mrs Taylor, of Liverpool, stand amid the wreckage of their van, which was picked up and thrown 50 feet
John Seymour-Jones, who owns the park at Llanfwrog, said: ‘It was so sudden, the first we knew was when a staff member rushed in to say the caravans were being lifted in the air and bits flying all over the place.
‘We went out and could just see a line of vans knocked over and a static van with its roof ripped off. There was a straight line where the tornado had come through, nothing either side was damaged. No staff were injured, we were very lucky.’
Flooding and high winds also lashed nearby villages, in what the Met Office confirmed was some of the worst weather in the country.
Just hours later, an 84-year-old woman in Stockport, Cheshire, had a narrow escape as a ‘mini-tornado’ ripped through a residential street, felling trees and blowing tiles off roofs.
Mayhem: The tornado shocked holidaymakers and Anglesey locals when it tore through the area, causing devastation and flooding
Trip to remember: A man and his child gaze in horror at their overturned holiday home
Smashed to pieces: Caravans were thrown into each other after some of the worst weather in the country
She was walking by a row of shops when she was struck by bricks from a chimney stack which collapsed on the pavement in front of her.
Eye witness Sheila Brady, 68, said: ‘All of a sudden the door flung open and the rain was lashing in and then there was this tremendous bang.
‘It was terribly loud and when I got outside there was the chimney stack and bricks and this lady on the floor.
‘She was very, very lucky - she had a cut hand and was complaining about her back.’
The woman escaped serious injury but was taken by ambulance to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport as a precaution.
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