Video footage has captured the moment a trampoline and other debris was sent flying through the sky by a ‘mini tornado’ as a megastorm swept across Britain.
Torrential downpours prompted The Met Office to issue an amber weather warning yesterday, as thunder brought as many as 13,000 lightning strikes.
Footage taken in Luton, Bedfordshire, showed a ‘mini-tornado’ launching debris including clothes from a washing line and even a trampoline, into the air.
The video, posted on ‘X’ by Ilford South, was taken at around 4pm in what appears to be a residence just off Dunstable Road.
As people battened down the hatches in preparation for the wet weather to continue today, a Dunstable resident made a hilarious discovery.
Stuck on the swing in her garden this morning, one lady found a trampoline. She took to Facebook to ask local residents who it belonged to.
The woman wrote: ‘Hi has anyone lost a trampoline today?’.
A person responded: ‘Lol did it land in your garden?’, to which the lady replied: ‘yes currently stuck on the swing’.
Scenes in nearby Dunstable High Street yesterday showed people struggling against high water and trying to unblock drains, while shops and cars were left underwater.
Bedfordshire Police said part of the road had been closed due to the severe flooding.
Flooding also closed part of the A421 westbound near Bedford, BBC News reported.
Severe thunderstorms have also affected other towns in Bedfordshire, including Flitwick, Cranfield and Marston Moretaine.
A yellow warning for rain remains in place today for parts of north Staffordshire as well as flood alerts.
Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said: ‘With Sunday marking the autumnal equinox summer has now officially come to an end, and it ended with a bang for some of us.
‘We’ve seen some very heavy showers and thunderstorms spreading their way in across southern areas of England, into parts of Wales as well during the course of today.
‘Into the early hours of tomorrow morning we’ll also see our next batch of thundery rain moving its way into southern areas of England as well.’
Although they may appear as ‘mini tornados’, dust devils are not as powerful or destructive. They travel across the ground and carry other loose debris.