Residents counting the cost of tornado damage

Residents in a Cornish village are counting the cost of the damage caused by a tornado which ripped through the area on Thursday.

Some properties in Quintrell Downs near Newquay have lost parts of their roofs and trees have been blown down.

Eyewitnesses said the winds only lasted for seconds but had caused major damage - eights cars at one local garage were damaged.

Emergency repairs have been taking place to protect the properties from further damage and a fleet of skips have been brought in as the clean-up continues.

Local resident Richard Hodgetts needed temporary repair work to his roof, and endured a restless night.

"It was very noisy, a lot of flapping on there. We didn't get much sleep last night, but they have done a fantastic job."

Mr Hodgetts said there was still a lot of work to do.

"The garden's flooded now with the rain we had last night," he said.

"What was left of the shed - that's moving again with last night's wind so we've got to take that down."

The tornado hit between 09:30 and 09:45 GMT, according to weather maps.

Jim Trezise works nights and was asleep when the tornado struck.

"I thought we were being raided or broken into," he said.

"I looked out the back window and just saw debris flying everywhere."

Mr Trezise said it blew in the garage's front door and its back doors came off the frame and "turned the garage upside down basically".

He had nothing but praise for the swift action taken by his landlord to start repair work: "They were out within like 15 minutes and they brought a roofer with them and they got straight to work."

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