Photos: Tornado Causes Damage In Somerset
[Updated: BWS confirms it was a tornado]
Unofficial reports coming in suggest that what appeared to be a tornado hit the Somerset Village area this morning [Oct 28] at approximately 9.15am. There are reports of damage in the area, with the photos being sent in showing damaged vehicles, walls, and more.
Bermuda is presently under a Tropical Storm Warning, and the Bermuda Weather Service has stated that winds will increase to tropical storm force later today through Monday. We have asked the BWS about the reports of tornados — which are not yet confirmed — and will update as able.
Update 11.51am: At least two buildings sustained damage, reports suggest boats may have been affected and area residents told Bernews one person in a car had a “close call”.
Speaking with eye witnesses, they report seeing what looked like a water spout in the Cavello Bay area in Somerset. It travelled north and touched down near Alfred Lodge. Part of the roof of Alfred Lodge was torn of and the tornado continued across the road and into the water flipping over two boats and a diving raft before it dissipated.
Part of the roof of Alfred Lodge was thrown onto the roof of a BMW parked across the road from the lodge and the glass of the main entrance door of the Sandys Boat Club was damaged.
BWS meterologist Kimberley Zuill said: “BWS cannot confirm or deny that the destruction was caused by a tornado until we have fully investigated the data and analyze the destruction pattern for evidence of rotation. Straight line, strong wind events like microbursts and strong squalls from intense showers or thunderstorms also can create the same level of isolated damage.
“What I can say is that around 8:30am Bermuda Weather Service Radar picked up an moderate shower off of Southampton/Somerset that for a moment could have reached thunderstorm and one image shows an extremely small hook echo that lasted for 10 min.
“It passed over the Mangrove Bay area. Bermuda is under tropical storm warning. Bermuda will be experiencing the effects of the outer bands of Sandy for the next 24 hours or so. These outer bands are very unstable, lending to the nature of tropical systems, have increased winds and heavy showers with the potential for thunderstorms at times.
“Winds will continue to increase becoming tropical storm force this afternoon; southerly 25 to 35 knots gusts to 50 knots, increasing south-southwesterly 30 to 35 knots with gusts 55 knots overnight. Expect these unstable conditions to continue until we drop the tropical storm warning.”
Update 6.27pm: Meteorologist Kimberley Zuill said: “The BWS can now confirm that the damage in Mangrove Bay area this morning was a minimal/shallow, short lived tornado.
“There was a tiny hook echo on our Doppler weather radar at 8:33am prior to a heavy shower moving from the southwest and crossing the west end through Somerset; rotation evidenced in a video that was supplied to us and the damage showed indications of a rotating wind field.
“This tornado was very small in diameter, causing damage to one known building and surrounding area associated with the building. All of this evidence combined leads to the conclusion that it was a minimal/shallow, short lived tornado, probably barely an F1 on the Fujita scale which existed for about 15 min.”
Photos courtesy of IrieFM, K Smith and more… click to enlarge:
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Thats my damn car dude. Oh man
thats awful
I should use a pick-up to transport your building materials if I was you – not a beamer!
Soooo, tell me again why the updated warning was posted yesterday !!! Goes to show u always be prepared U never know. Thanks Bernews for your coverage.
I wonder if the persons complaining yesterday live in Somerset hhmmm
so they where prepared thats why their window got smashed in. ok what U going to say they was not paying attention to the weather reports.
What are you talking about? You sound real simple.
@Kenton—-no I don’t live in Somerset..hope everyone is safe..
Wow…
I’d like to point out the awesome job Bernews did with blocking that license plate haha
This isabsolutely saddening to say the least!take pictures and take in your claim form to your insurance co. TOMORROW!!!!!
last i checked insurance does’nt cover freak hurricane mother nature accidents… dis person is pissed i know it… damn there goes the bmw but with that being said u live in the right area… yall can afford a new one hahaha
After the licking that the insurance companies took in Hurricane Emily where hundreds of cars were crunched thanks to roofs coming off , they added a seperate clause for wind damage for auto.
However ,as expected, they rarely advise that they have it or promote it . Car owners be warned .
zombie walk and than a tornado… go figure.
seriously i was thinking the same thing
must have been one hell of a Zombie W
alk…. seriously though.. very glad no-one was hurt
Thanking God for His grace and mercy that the owner is OK. Stop calling out the evil spirits by having zombie walks and dressing up as the devil would have you do.
Are you kidding! God dropped roof tiles or block on a parked car in Somerset because kids are walking around in Haloween costumes all over the Island. If that’s the case then God is some kind of meanspirited. What if the poor guy who owns the car doesn’t have any kids and has never dressed up at Halloween in his entire life? What if he’s a Muslim and doesn’t believe in Haloween?
This kind of “evil spirits” superstitious thinking perpuates the ridiculous belief that earthquakes are caused by God’s wrath rather than by living along seismic fault lines; that psunamis are caused by God deciding to punish folks who live along shore lines (never those who live inland) for their evil ways rather than because of a major underwater earthquake; that hurricanes strike cities that live in sin (New Orleans being an often quoted example!) rather than because they are located in areas that happen to have been in hurricanes belts long before man arrived on the face of the earth; and maybe that God crashes aeroplanes when he does a quick count and realizes that too many people on the plane have sinned during that week!
My condolences to anyone in Somerset who suffered any loss or damage caused by this freak tornado, but please do not for one moment believe that it happened to you because you were a sinner or you believe in evil spirits. In the words of Joe Biden, “That’s just malarky”!
You sound good and crazy. I guess all the hurricanes we have at other times of the work of the devil and evil spirits as well? lol! Watch out for the bogeyman behind you.
@PLP but not the Government: People do a lot worse than have zombie walks. If doing bad things ‘called out evil spirits’ we’d be seeing all kinds of fire and brimstone stuff happening on a daily basis. All these shooting murderers we have walking around would have been struck down by lightning along time ago but do we see that? No. So why would having a zombie walk for Halloween cause this to happen? Give me a break.
This is something called a ‘coincidence’…look it up.
Even if you did not intend it, you make it sound as if God caused the slate to fall on the car because of the zombie walk. Thank you for contributing to the idea that all God ever does is punish man for the things they do wrong. You definitely aren’t helping to guide people to God.
It’s good to know that no one was hurt or died as a result of the weather we’ve been having. Bermuda has been spared/got lucky again.
Notice the tornado hit the freemason’s building
That’ll buff right out. Sucks that insurance may not cover that. Only in Bda smdh
False. Many insurance companies don’t cover damage from natural events… I believe they fall under the term “Acts of God”.
@ Micro , refer to my earlier post. The insurance companies sell ‘full coverage’ to the unsuspecting making them believe that they’re fully covered.
They’re only covered for ‘road related’ accidents/fire/theft.
You have to request , and pay more, for windstorm ,aka ‘acts of god’. Not many people are actually aware of this but it is a seperate clause and available. Albeit at an additional cost. You just have to know.
If the lodge has insurance they probably have a deductible for windstorm . Either way get an estimate and take yourself to your insurance company.
Blimey Me Wife . BMW .
Broke My Windows B.M.W
Seriously though…Im glad everyone was okay.
Thank God this didn’t happen yesterday. The roof that came off… all the tables for sales and pumpkin carving were right outside. The area was full of kids. wow.
I don’t think anyone on this post stated that God dropped tiles as punishment. Do you know the history behind Halloween? Do some research it’s quite interesting, but the Celts in Europe wanted to contact dead spirits each year. Druids would go door to door asking for food and would trick or curse people who didn’t oblige. The evil spirits were thought to play tricks on people when they returned, so it’s not too far fetched to think that something evil was invited into Somerset. Just because you have candy and happy faces doesn’t mean it has a darker beginning.
@Michievous: Not too far-fetched to think ‘something evil’ was invited into Somerset, you say? Hmmm…you’ve got me thinking now. I’ll have to be careful not to invite any canvassing MP’s inside my home, then…I wouldn’t want to risk incurring any wrath and have tiles dropped on my house because of it…
Even though a tornado was passing right over the Country Squire, it was still business as usual and Donald still served up a great codfish breakfast!
I live on Sound View off Scott’s Hill; I heard the rushing train, micro burst, or whatever you wanna call it, come by my house early this morning; later I discovered a large Pride of India tree broken to bit 20ft on my neighbour’s property. I and the rest of the residents in the area are grateful, nothing more serious happened. Enjoy the weather
o no so sad
The photo’s are confusing.
You have the silver BMW parked in a parking lot (looks like the boat club) then same parked on the main road; or is it just me.
The masons from the lodge should have that fixed in a jiffy. That’s their trade!
Ignorance is what I am reading. I feel so sad that ppl cannot see beyond the natural eye. WAKE UP! Bermuda is not excluded from disasters. But God will save us for one or more that is in right standing with him like he did with Lot and his family when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of the wickedness of the ppl. Bermuda and the world have lost their purpose, their love and unity. Its time to seek first the Kingdom and its righteousness so all things can be added unto us! U may think this comment is irrelevant; however discussing God’s original intent at any moment is never irrelevant. There are two sources for everything we think, God and Satan. If your not living for God by default u serve satan. God is in control and he will do anything he needs to do to get the attention of his ppl just as parents would do for their children. God never punishes us but only disciplines us in hopes that we will not be conformed by this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. If you really knew God some of the garbage would not come out of your mouth because u would know that life and death is in the power of the tongue. I speak life into this country! If your living for God than by default your living life to the fullest!
I have to fully agree with just one comment from Wake Up. “Ignorance is what I’m reading”. This post from Wake Up is the most nonsensical I have read in a long time. Of course Bermuda is not excluded from disasters, and neither is anywhere else in the world. Disasters have occurred since the beginning of time – billions of years ago – and will continue to do so. To suggest that God had anything to do with dumping a few concrete blocks on a parked car because of children walking around in Halloween costume and inviting evil spirits is the height of religous superstition. It is also totally demeaning of God.
Sodom and Gomorrah sounds like something one needs to get treated at the STD Clinic…just sayin’…
o no that is bad bermuda had never had a tornato yet did anyone die or get hurt.
Tornadoes (or whatever the BWS may wish to call them) are not a complete rarity in Bda. Hurricane Emily was full of them.
In the late fall of 1978 (or 1979 ?) a freak system off of the Western end of the island spawned a dozen or so that inflicted worse than hurricane damage to the area between Coral Acres/SAL Southampton all the way down to Camp Hill in Warwick.
Roofs were ripped off every other house and many boats were flipped at their moorings in Jew’s Bay. It looked like a total war zone.
A bie the vinds ver so strong my goats vent flying
The windstorm portion of our Insurance is $10.00 per vehicle per year. This was mandated by the UBP Government due to the fact that cars were not covered and it created a firestorm. Take a look at your own policy and you will see it.
The Bible says the enemey has come to kill, steal and destroy. But when you release spirits in the atmosphose through accult activity don’t blame God. Don’t be ingnorance of spirituals things.
Huh?
Tornadoes sometimes happen. They are caused by weather conditions, not by small innocent children in costumes, having fun. Pull yourselves together here!!!
Sorry for the loss of property; glad it wasn’t people.
All those who have faith clearly would see a sign in something that rarely hits Bermuda (a tornado), especially after having a Zombie walk, and anybody who has any sense would know that freemasons also practice the quote on quote secret arts…..Zombie walk Freemason hall..walls smashed where Pumpkins were hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..Like i said faithful people will see the sign..heedless people will never see because they are blind by choice of ignorance.
Oh hush it. I wouldn’t call it rare, there reports of a tornado at least once a year it seems. And with Hurricane Sandy, its not really out of place at all.
That Beamer saw more building material in the back than the tricked out W&E pick-up recently photographed with the baby seat in the back
Tornados?????? Bermuda is a island 21 by 1 mile. Me thinks it be a water spout. Like a tornasdo but forms over the ocean/sea/body of water.
We do have them in Puerto Rico. They can be nasty.