Residents of a British town were stunned when they looked into the sky and saw – this 300ft TORNADO.
The huge twister struck near the town of Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, just 25 miles from the centre of London, after forming over the River Thames.
Witnesses described a dark funnel of air ”tearing through the sky” for ten minutes surrounded by black storm clouds.
No damage was caused by the tornado because it materialised over fields near the river and did not ‘touch down’ while it travelled over buildings.
Council worker David Stammers, 56, who is a keen amateur photographer, ”couldn’t believe his eyes” when he first saw the tornado.
He said: ”I was coming home from doing my shopping when I spotted the tornado. I just drove towards it without thinking then jumped out and took a photo.
”Looking back maybe I should have been a little bit more careful because it was massive and looked very menacing in the sky. Some people watching it were very scared.
”It’s a very unusual thing to happen in England and not something you see every day so I was quite surprised. I couldn’t believe my eyes at first.
”It hovered for about ten minutes before disappearing. There was no damage at all because it didn’t touch down over any houses.”
The tornado hovered over Stanford-le-Hope, Corringham and East Tilbury in Essex at around 1pm on Saturday.
Resident Natashia Taylor added: ”We saw the tornado forming and I kept an eye on it as we were driving along.
”My husband managed to figure out whereabouts it might touch down and parked up so we could watch it next to a field.
”There were a couple of other cars also parked there too with people watching. It was absolutely amazing. The English weather is not so boring any more.”
