Tornado damages houses and brings down trees in Portsmouth

Meatpie

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A mini-tornado has swept through a seaside town 'like a freight train' damaging houses, trees and telegraph poles.

Nearly 100 houses had their roofs damaged by the high winds and rain and several cars have been damaged by fallen trees and broken fences, in Hayling Island, Portsmouth.

One homeowner found a kayak had been swept into their garden - with no idea where it had come from.

Hampshire Constabulary confirmed they had received reports of disruption caused by the unusual weather.

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Nearly 100 houses had roofs damaged after high winds and rain hit Hayling Island, near Portsmouth

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A tree was ripped from its bed in Hayling Island. Police and the council are now working to clear up the damage

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...o-Damaged-houses-brings-trees-Portsmouth.html
 
The UK has a surprising number of tornados, though they are piddly by US standards. About half of them (well the ones that do enough damage to make the news) seem to happen along a 10-mile strip of the south coast from Hayling Island to Selsey. Apparently theres's three reasons:
- the English channel is a warm sea by our standards
- our dominant wind is from SW, often brings showers and storms in from over that warm sea
- to the SW of that strip of coast is the east end of the Isle of Wight, high hills dropping straight into the sea. So if a storm comes in from the Sw, its left side is slowed by the hills whie its right side stays over te water - so storm starts rotating, that generates the tornados.
Remind me not to live in Selsey!
 
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