'The wind sounded like a train going over my house'

Sarah-May Buccieriin Snitterby Carr
News imageBBC A woman wearing a green jacket and blue jeans is standing under the roots of a large green tree. She has her arms outstretched. The tree has been uprooted.BBC
The tree came down during Sunday's extreme weather

A woman has recounted the dramatic moment when a large tree in her Lincolnshire garden was blown down during a gale.

Emma Rawlings, from Snitterby Carr, near Gainsborough, said the aggressive bout of gusts on Sunday evening lasted for only about five minutes, but during that time she had been left holding on to her kitchen units.

"I just didn't want to move because it was actually so frightening for a few seconds," she said. The high winds "came out of nowhere" and she described it as like a train going over her house.

As well as the 40ft (12m) conifer, her house and fencing was damaged.

Rawlings, 60, added: " I thought the roof was going to come off... The roar was unbelievable."

News imageEmma Rawlings has a green jacket and is wearing a blue hat. She has blue eyes. She is standing in front of an uprooted tree.
Emma Rawlings said the weather "came out of nowhere"

It is not known if the house was hit by a tornado.

A Met Office spokesperson said: "To verify a tornado, we need clear photographic evidence of a rotating cloud making contact with the ground.

"Tornadoes do occur in the UK, but they are typically small and short-lived, and we see around 30-35 reports a year, on average."

Lincolnshire Police said there were about 30 reports of fallen trees across the county on Sunday.

A spokesperson said: "The weather conditions were not expected and placed a heavy demand on our resources."

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