Residents of a quiet Smith?s Parish neighbourhood were rocked last night by what weather forecasters called a ?gustnado? or mini-tornado during heavy thunderstorms around 7 p.m.

Ice cube sized hail also dropped in the Poikiok Road and McGall?s Bay area near St. Mark?s Church. Residents immediately began a cleanup once it was discovered no-one was injured and there was no major damage to the buildings.

Pokiok Road resident Hope Robbins heard a ?a deafening noise?, and looked out to see sturdy Oleander trees ?flattened to the ground?.

Mrs. Robbins added: ?The outside furniture was flying around. Spinning around in the air in circles! It was like a tornado.?

Mrs. Robbins said a prized loquat tree was split in half and there was a sound like an aeroplane directly over her home when the mini-tornado struck.

?It was over in 30 seconds but it was dark,? she said. ?I was not able to hear anything. Yes, I was terrified. You would be too.?

Declan O?Connell of the Weather Service said gustnados are short lived whirlwind that forms along the leading edge of a thunderstorm?s outflow boundary.

?Late in the afternoon an area of thunderstorms developed and crossed the Island,? Mr. O?Connell explained. ?Anytime there is thunderstorm activity there is a potential for strong and damaging gusts of wind.?

He said ?gustnadoes? can resemble miniature-tornadoes in that they appear as a swirling column of dirt and other debris.

A Weather Service fact sheet said they were not ?true tornadoes? in that they are not directly linked to the base of a parent thunderstorm, but rather by wind swirls interacting with land masses and other winds. If a swirl grows large enough, a gustnado forms.

?They are also not as strong,? the meteorologist said. ?Gustnadoes have the potential to blow things like outdoor furniture and trash cans about and do some damage to smaller trees and plants.?

The highest sustained winds recorded at the Bermuda Weather Service yesterday was 25 knots, he said and the highest gust was 43 knots at about 6.20 p.m. The Weather Service also observed a waterspout off St. David?s at approximately 7.45 p.m. Gustnadoes developed from the ground up, could grow to a height of 300 feet, and looked like tornadoes from a distance.

They enhance and swirl already strong and potentially damaging ?straight line? winds associated with a ?gust front? a BWS fact sheet explains.

It adds: ?At times damage can be substantial when the gust front winds are exceptionally strong.?

A farm owner at nearby Zuill?s Park Road confirmed one of his outlying buildings was damaged. ?There was a tornado through here,? the farmer, who asked to not be identified said. ?There was no major damage but it took a water gutter off a building in the back. There was very heavy thunder and lightning. It was over in a matter of seconds. The animals are alright.?

Florida visitor Jim Mallder said a lightning bolt shook the windows of his daughter Kay Lopes? home. ?All we saw were hailstones. It was about the size of an ice cube. The hailstones were coming down and one lightning blot must have hit very close by because it shook the windows,? Mr. Mallder said.

Mrs. Lopes said the hail sounded like someone throwing rocks at the windows. Her son Nicholas Lopes even collected some the hail and stored it in the freezer. Sgt. Wenda Godfrey of the Fire Service said last night wires came down in the Zuill?s Park area however, the Fire Service did not attend the scene.

She said: ?The incidents we?ve attended were flooding only.?