A tornado hunter is investigating freak weather in Essex.
Tom Defty is part of Reading University's Tornado and Storm Research Team.
Mr Defty is the region's storm chaser and is looking into exactly what happened in Essex eleven days ago, when a twister went through Tollebury and Peldon and could be seen from Colchester.
Storm chaser - Tom Defty
He is also investigating what caused freak weather in Witham and Braintree.
Mr Defty, of Danbury, who has access to hi-tech weather tracking equipment, said: "It was the weather event of the year for this area.
"If chimneys were broken, something must have touched the ground and it would seem to have been a tornado."
He said 90 per cent of supposed tornado sightings were actually funnel clouds.
But this, he said, appeared genuine.
He said if anyone had caught a proper tornado on video, it could be worth as much as £10,000 because there is no video footage of a tornado in this area.
Anyone with video footage or photographs of the storm can contact Mr Defty on 01245 227264.
Published Thursday August 22, 2002
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