Mini-tornado strikes island off the coast of Scotland

Jul 29, 2009, 9:28 GMT

London - A mini-tornado struck the island of Lewis on the north-west coast of Scotland late Tuesday, overturning cars and smashing windows in buildings, police said Wednesday.

According to reports, a number of cars were 'flipped upside down' by the storm and buildings in the harbour of Stornoway, the island's capital, were damaged.

Cathie Cassie, a holiday-maker from England, described how the family's camper van had been hit by the storm at around 2100 GMT Tuesday.

'The van started to shake, almost like you were in an earthquake and then it tipped sideways. We were very lucky,' she said.

Reports said slates, ridging and iron-work were ripped off some houses, and lightning caused power to be lost across the town.

A spokesman for the coastguard said no-one was reported injured. Witnesses spoke of hearing thunder and lightning around the time of the storm.

Tornados at sea are 'unusual' during the summer months and more likely in the autumn, a spokesman for MeteoGroup, the weather division of Britain's Press Association, said.

Tornados are formed by vacuums created between clouds as they rise and fall in the atmosphere during a thunderstorm. Air moving between the clouds creates a vortex - a rapidly moving column of air that rotates downwards.

As the tornado grows, the air is stretched out further, increasing the size and strength of the twister, said the spokesman, likening the phenomenon to 'water going down a plughole.'