Mengeham Rythe Sailing Club members rallied together to clear up
A mini-tornado has caused an estimated £100,000 of damage to boats at a Hayling Island
sailing club.
Boats ‘toppled like dominos’ when the whirlwind passed through Mengeham Rythe
Sailing Club, on
Sunday 20 October.
Club
spokesman Carol Carter said the mini-tornado struck at about 7.15am, leaving a trail of destruction as it whipped along residential
roads before reaching the dinghy park on Marine Walk.
Carol
said: ‘Boats were tossed in the air, landing on top of other boats, it was a
force 2 tornado, travelling up to 92mph.
‘We’re
estimating that about 50 dinghies were damaged, costing just under £100,000 – it
soon adds up with damage to masts, covers, trailers and fiberglass.
‘We’d
just pulled all the yachts out of the water and a couple fell off their
trailers. Fortunately the mini-tornado didn’t pass through the cruiser park.
‘It
was such a concentrated, narrow sweep, the CCTV footage shows boats going down
like dominos.’
She
added: ‘The most fortunate thing is that no one was injured, if it had been an
hour or two later the boat park would’ve been a hive of activity.
‘Thankfully
no one was hurt, just a lot of pride and joy damaged.
‘We
sent a newsgroup email out to club members just before 9am and the response was
amazing, a lot of people worked as a fantastic team to restore some order and to
save the boats from further damage as a lot of them were in a precarious
postion in strong winds.’
Council
staff worked alongside the emergency services to clean up debris and fallen
trees from the affected areas, and to assess the safety of affected properties.