Eldon couple in hot tub tornado ordeal

A couple who saw the roof ripped from above their heads by a tornado say they were getting ready to go in their hot tub when the twister struck.

Fences were destroyed and windows smashed in the village of Eldon, near Bishop Auckland in County Durham, during the extreme weather event on Saturday afternoon.

Will Jones, whose ordeal was caught on his neighbour’s home CCTV system, and his wife Ann were preparing to use the hot tub in their summer house when they suddenly found themselves outside.

“The roof went, that was it, and we thought ‘right, let’s go back indoors’,” he said.

The pair had decided to go for a dip after returning from a shopping trip, Mr Jones said.

“Of course, as soon as we sat in the summer house, the rain just came down and then all of a sudden the roof went,” he told BBC Radio Tees.

“One minute it was here, the next minute gone, and so was everything else.”

Mr Jones said the high winds turned the concrete posts between his wooden fencing panels into “toothpicks” which snapped from the force.

Mr Jones said: “Luckily no-one was hurt and not one car was damaged.”

He said his wife had started looking at what they could do with their insurance.

Neighbours had also seen their roofs damaged and windows smashed in.

“We’ve got a lot of neighbours around here that are all chipping in, helping each other out,” Mr Jones said.

He said the clean-up operation in his own back garden was now under way.

“I had a day off yesterday and I thought, ‘nah, I’m not going to tackle it at all, I’ll do it tomorrow,” he said.