Freak tornado-like storm hits Barbados

Storm clouds (file photo)

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, January 10, 2007 - Barbadians woke up this morning to the shocking news that a "tornado" touched down in Wildey, on the outskirts of Bridgetown, giving a woman the scare of her life and damaging at least one commercial building.

Eyewitnesses said that heavy rain-laden clouds bellied and a twister came out of nowhere, touching down a stone's throw away from the headquarters of Barbados Telecommunications Service. A woman on the road after 7:30 am said that she was caught up in it but was not injured. However the rude twister whipped her personal belongings out of her hand and sent them skyward.

The "playful" twister then went on to rip off the roof of a commercial building.

Workers in the commercial Wildey area, reported on Liberty 98.1 FM radio this morning that before they saw the twister, they heard something like jumbo jet engines coming towards them.

Weather conditions are overcast in Barbados and much of the southeastern Caribbean this morning.

The Barbados Meteorological Services said that it was not a tornado but a downdraft from Cumulonimbus clouds. These are tall, dense clouds involved in thunderstorms and other bad weather.

Twisters are rare but not unusual in Barbados. The last known twister was in the early 1990s on the east coast of Barbados where one home was demolished and several damaged.