FAMILIES across southern Hampshire were staging a massive clearing up operation today after a mini tornado left a trail of havoc.

Houses lost their roofs, beach huts were smashed to smithereens and vehicles had their windows sucked out as the twister tore along the coast. Most of the destruction occurred at Hill Head, near Fareham, where at least ten homes and garages were damaged.

But two pensioners were injured at Calshot, at the western head of Southampton Water, after their caravan was sent tumbling across the beach by winds of more than 75mph.

The vehicle was blown about 40 feet and is thought to have rolled over several times before coming to rest on its side.

Bill Liddle escaped with minor head injuries but his wife Joan was trapped in the wreckage.

She was freed by firefighters after about 25 minutes and placed on a special stretcher amid fears she may have injured her spine. Mr and Mrs Liddle were taken to Southampton General Hospital, and later discharged.

The couple, both in their early 70s and from Christchurch, are members of Calshot Caravan and Camping Club.

They had planned to spend the weekend at Calshot and were still settling in when the tornado struck shortly after 1pm yesterday.

It roared in from the Solent, destroying nine beach huts and blowing others off their concrete bases.

The shingle beach was left littered with personal possessions as the twister headed towards a single-storey dining room at Calshot Activities Centre.

Diners included a group of visiting schoolchildren from Portsmouth.

Two coaches had their windows sucked out and three cars belonging to kitchen staff were also damaged, but the building itself was unscathed.

One caravan owner said: ''The 'whirly' came down and rolled my caravan over and over. It's completely wrecked. It went 20 yards up the beach.''

Peter Lowe, the centre's customer services manager, said: "I looked out of my office window and saw a mini whirlwind that was flattening the sea.

"It was just as if a helicopter was hovering above the water."

Mr Lowe said the tornado struck without warning and lasted only a few seconds before heading across the Solent towards Hill Head.

Hundreds of tiles were hurled off the roofs of ten homes in a street at Hill Head.

Their garage roofs simply disintegrated when the whirlwind struck at 2pm at Solent Road.

One resident, Andy Pullinger, was ferried to hospital in an ambulance with a badly cut leg. He was on the roof of his garage which had been damaged in the mini-tornado when it collapsed beneath him.

The injury was not life-threatening but needed stitches, a Hampshire fire brigade spokesman said. The whirlwind tore through the street from north to south as it made its way along the Solent into Sussex.

For Andy's next-door neighbour, Norma Waterloo, she and husband Bryan are almost old hands. It was their third mini tornado in just over ten years.

As she surveyed the severe damage to her garage and house roof at the snug home where she has lived for 20 years Norma said they had experienced one in 1987 and another in 1991.

"I didn't see this one but I heard it,'' she said. "I was walking down the road home when I turned the corner and saw the damage."

One householder on the other side of Solent Road, whose home escaped unscathed, was Brian Parker, who not only heard the tornado but saw it as well. "I heard the wind and saw the swirling of leaves in the air, then garage roofs coming off. It made a terrifying noise," he said.

Fire crews from Fareham and Gosport and a tender with special equipment were called out to Solent Road to help to deal with the smashed tiles and to make safe damaged walls and ceilings.

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