Shropshire Star

'Tornadoes' in Shropshire: Gusts of over 80mph leaves thousands of pounds worth of damage

Described as mini tornadoes, winds of more than 80mph swept across large areas of Shropshire, Mid and North Wales and Staffordshire.

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It took just a few minutes, but it brought devastation and was a nasty surprise for those given the job of clearing up in its wake.

Tim Sneddon, Shropshire Council's environmental maintenance service manager, said: "Some of our teams returned to the depot and said it is as bad as anything they have seen in their lifetime of working on highways.

"In a corridor to the north of Shrewsbury between there and Nesscliffe, through towards Baschurch, Bomere Heath, Preston Gubbals and Astley, there were trees down all over the place in the fields and wooded areas. They have dealt with dozens of trees. Many of them will have been cut and dragged to the roadside verge and will be cut up and removed, as necessary, over the next few days."

Picture of damage at Adcote School where six trees were blown over

A car was damaged at RAF Shawbury and damage was reported to family accommodation on the base, with roofs affected.

Grinshill Dog Rescue, near Wem, was left with at least £2,000 damage after a tree fell on one of the kennel blocks, taking out the roof but miraculously missing the dogs inside.

Trees were felled and windows smashed at independent all-girls' Adcote School in Little Ness, near Shrewsbury.

It wasn't just Shropshire. In Wales caravans were smashed into pieces. In Staffordshire JCB's headquarters experienced hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage.

The Met Office and Meteogroup said they had yet to confirm reports that an actual tornado had hit the area.

The damage was across an extensive area, with a wall collapsed at JCB in Rocester, Staffordshire, and caravans crushed near Aberystwyth
Caravans crushed near Aberystwyth

Builder David Ward saw a barn he was converting near Newport flattened. He said: "I'm just stunned by it. The damage will cost us in excess of £175,000. I've never seen anything like it."

A barn at Dodecote Grange, Newport, was flattened

Sam Barker, a farmer based at Great Berwick Organics near Shrewsbury, said the conditions left his business £3,000 out of pocket as the doors of one of the large grain stores had blown inwards.

He said: "I think compared to some people we've been extremely lucky but it was certainly quite a sight and where we are seemed to be right in the epicentre of it all."

The high winds also caused devastation at Grinshill Dog Rescue, near Wem, where boss Jenny Martinez said: "We're just thankful none of our dogs were hurt."

  • MORE: See how the day of destruction unfolded

Stella Hayward, of Western Power Distribution which supplies power to parts of Shropshire, said: "It sounds like the county has had some really nasty weather which affected about 1,500 homes – although about 1,000 of those were only affected for a few moments after a circuit tripped and the power was put back on."

Paul Ferguson, of Scottish Power, which supplies electricity to north Shropshire and parts of Mid Wales, said faults had been reported in parts of Mid and West Wales including Welshpool, Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.

The unsettled weather will continue. Emma Sharples, of the Met Office, said: "The region's seen a fairly broad band of rain, mainly coming from Wales through to England, as well as high winds, which were perhaps worse than forecast. The weather will ease off and although we're still seeing winds, they won't have the same level of intensity as we'd seen this morning."

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