Sunday night saw a severe and localised weather event hit the village bringing down dozens of trees and causing much damage.

Beacon reader Gavin Dunkerley from Whitebrook was walking his dog in the woods in the area about 8pm when the wind went from zero to pretty terrifying in no time, “then all of a sudden, nothing. I ran out the woods pretty darn quickly.”

Most of the damage seems to have been in Blackbrook along Glyn Road but trees were brought down in other parts of the village including The Hoop and Moorcroft Road, near to Pelham Hall.

Blackbrook’s Chris Money said he “watched it across our little valley, the wind I estimate was around 80mph and went through at least 180 degrees as it moved through lifting a lot of debris and branches. I can only think it must have been a tornado about 4 to 800mtrs wide. It seemed to move straight down the valley which concurs with the devastation track.”

Down towards the Wye, the Washings area was also badly hit, with Washing’s Lane being totally blocked by fallen trees.

Adam Burtt-Jones’s social media plea of “Morning, if anyone has some time and chainsaws we’re currently blocked in” brought an immediate response from the community who turned out in number to help clear the debris blocking Washing’s Lane. “Wonderful to have such a helpful community” he said later on.

Help was also on hand from MCC (despite the Bank Holiday) who helped clear Glyn Road by midday on Monday. Fortunately there was no damage to the OpenReach cable.

The village weather station gave clear evidence for what happened. The barometric graph showed a rapid drop from approximately 1003.5 mb to 1002.0 mb at about 8:00 pm, followed immediately by a sharp rebound.