A mini-tornado tore through a Co Antrim village yesterday. Gales lasting no more than a minute left a trail of damaged homes, cars and uprooted trees in Aghalee.
Although no injuries were reported, tiles were blown off roofs, windows were smashed and garden furniture was flung about.
At one stage a car was lifted off the ground by fierce winds brought in amid driving rain.
Denise Greenan told how her oil tank was blown away. "I looked out the back window and my child's sand pit had lifted up and blown away," she said.
"There was also a white car sitting and the back end of it lifted off the ground."
A Met Office spokesman confirmed an active cold front across Northern Ireland had brought 10 minutes of intense rain and recorded winds gusting at over 50 mph.
"There may have been a brief circulation which maybe caused some minor damage to trees and a few roof tiles," he said.
"It's not impossible that there was some sort of minor circulation from the clouds touching the ground, but it certainly wasn't widespread."
- (PA)