Rare mini-tornado wreaks havoc in Northampton

Tiles were torn from rooftops and properties damaged after a small but extremely rare tornado tore through Northampton on Monday afternoon.

The tornado was caught on camera by local resident James Dean, who was at work in Duston when the storm began swirling towards him at around 12:30pm.

Another local, Charlie Lambert, told the Northampton Chronicle the storm had ripped through guttering and swept debris up into the air.

“He phoned me to tell me he had just seen a tornado and I did not believe him. But he then sent me the footage and it looks quite scary,” Lambert said.

“He said it picked up a load of rubbish and a number of the houses in the area had suffered damaged guttering.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. He said it was also really noisy and he thought there was going to be an explosion,” she added.

A radar image from the Northampton branch of the Met Office shows intense weather patterns over Northampton during the early afternoon, when the tornado took place.

Other local residents reported crashed cars and fallen trees.

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