A SUSPECTED tornado has wreaked havoc on a cluster of homes in a Kent seaside town.

It tore off a workshop roof, sending huge chunks of debris flying across the street, ripped house roof tiles, felled a telegraph pole which brought down electricity lines and cut off telephones.

The destruction, which was over in seconds, struck six homes in Dunes Road, Greatstone, near Hythe, at about 3am on Saturday.

Resident Joanne Palmer said: “I was woken up by what sounded like a roaring clap of thunder. What had happened had been instantaneous.

“From the moment I got up from bed and looked out of the window the winds had died down.”

Mrs Palmer, 34, believes she and her children Joe, 10, and Tom, seven, had a lucky escape as a 20ft piece of heavy, wooden beam had been hurled across the street and missed both their bedroom windows.

She said: “It missed my window by 6 to 7ft and landed a few feet short of the children’s room.

“The children were terrified by what happened. I’m not a weak woman but this has freaked me out.

“I have lived on the Marsh all my life and I have never seen anything like this before, apart from the Great Storm of 1987.”

The winds also punched four holes as wide as 2ft into the Palmers’ house roof, swept away about 70 tiles, tore chunks off the fascia and demolished the front garden wall.

The area was cordoned off until debris was cleared and workers from BT and EDF Energy arrived to deal with the damage.