WINDSWEPT Willersey caught the edge of a “mini tornado” at the weekend as the country was hit with thunder, lightning and hammering hailstones.

The storm hit South Warwickshire on Saturday afternoon before whistling through Willersey, near Chipping Campden.

It brought down branches and strewing debris about the village. Joe McDonagh, landlord at the New Inn, in Campden Lane, said he was driving back to the pub when the storm swept in.

“It came out of nowhere,”

he said.“It was like a different planet. Suddenly bits of furniture were flying everywhere.

It was gone as fast it came.

“It came and whistled through and sent a few of my signs into the road then it was gone. You had to struggle to walk up against it. It was swirling all over.”

Rob McNeil-Wilson, churchwarden at St Peter’s Church, in Willersey, was at home when the storm struck.

“I couldn’t go out because of it,” he said.

“There was some driving rain. It whistled through.

“I think we must have been on the fringe of it. It brightened up fairly quickly afterwards.

It was something a bit out of the ordinary.”

The wind also brought down trees in Over Norton Road, Chipping Norton, and Harrow Hill, Long Compton.

Evesham firefighters were called to nearby Offenham on Saturday, where two 11,000 volt electricity poles were blown over.

And Evesham United Football Club’s match at home to Merthyr Town on Tuesday night was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.