'Tornado' rips through north Staffordshire village in dramatic footage

• Dramatic footage from a home security camera shows a caravan being flipped over on a driveway in Knutton.

Credit: Steven Lee Hemmings

A suspected tornado ripped through parts of north Staffordshire, leaving a trail of destruction through one village with a caravan flipped over and dozens of cars and homes damaged.

Residents in Knutton were woken up at around 06.30am on Monday 15 April to severe gusts tearing through the village - damaging cars and roofs.

In the St Giles Road area, pictures show a caravan lying on its side and garden fences wrecked with debris left littering the streets.

Staffordshire Police and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the scene and St Giles Road was cordoned off throughout the morning.

Paul Morris, 54, has lived on St Giles Road for five years.

He said: "I was just going out of the house at 6.30am. It was horrendous. I managed to close the front door. All of a sudden there was an almighty roar, it was just mayhem after that."

Paul and his partner are well aware of the devastation hurricanes leave behind in America.

He added: "The devastation Hurricane Katrina caused - they are still recovering from it now.

"This was literally 10 seconds - that is all it lasted. There was torrential rain, wind and then the tornado struck. I could not believe it.

"I rang the emergency services at 6.45am. The woman who took the call did not believe it. It took 45 minutes for the police to come and one-and-a-half hours for the fire brigade.

"The fire service have said they have not got the equipment to deal with this. You can't prepare for it. You do not expect it."

The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for wind across north Staffordshire on Monday (15 April) - with gusts of 46mph hitting the area.

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