A SHOCKED North Yorkshire man told today of the moment a "mini tornado" hit his home.

Tony Kemp, 46, of Whitby Road, Pickering, had arrived home yesterday lunchtime when he said he heard a huge noise.

Father-of-three Mr Kemp, who owns Pickering Mowers, said: "I heard this enormous roar like a jet fighter, it was just horrendous.

"I turned around and there were some big trees leaning at 45 degrees.

"The rain was going round horizontally like a mist and I was thrown against the side of my van."

Mr Kemp said he staggered towards the house where wife Michaela and 18 month-old-son Charlie were inside.

He said: "The rain was just going round in a circle and it was frightening, because you don't know what's happening.

"I realised it was something strange like a mini tornado, and then when I opened the door to the house a 3ft by 2ft window just imploded.

"The room window was smashed and there was glass everywhere.

"We were screaming to get a camera to take a picture because we just could not believe what we had seen."

The freak wind moved off away from the house across fields behind the family home.

But Mr Kemp said although tiles were ripped from his roof, properties at either side of their house were undamaged.

He said: "Next door have garden chairs out and nothing happened to them, but our washing line blew down and a fence was blown over.

"My wife's dream holiday is to go storm chasing in Oklahoma and she has said this for years, but now that she's experienced one here, she doesn't need to."

George Pickering, of Ingsgarth, south-west of Mr Kemp's home, was working inside his house when he also heard a loud bang.

He said: "I was quite frightened by the noise because I didn't know what it was - I thought there had been a serious road accident outside."

Mr Pickering said wheelie bins were hurled down the street and a neighbour's aluminium greenhouse frame was tossed around and twisted beyond repair.

He added: "Me and my family had a lucky escape, because the tiles off the roof could have crashed on to us if anyone had been outside in the garden."

But he said his neighbours' properties on the other side of the house were left completely untouched by the mini tornado.

Local meteorologist Paul Hignett said mini tornadoes were more common than people thought.

He said: "We do get quite a lot happening throughout the year, with two or three hundred reported."

Forecaster Chris Rees, from PA Weather, said it sounded as though a funnel cloud or a mini tornado had hit the town.

He said: "They could well have had some sort of tornado, and with the showery conditions we could not rule it out."

Updated: 11:41 Wednesday, July 03, 2002