Property damage in Southampton was likely caused by a shallow and short-lived tornado which hit the Island, the Bermuda Weather Service concluded yesterday.

Director Mark Guishard said his staff detected severe weather conditions on Tuesday including wind gusts greater than 50 knots and immediately alerted Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre, the Air Traffic Control Tower and the Police Communications and Operations Command Post which is standard procedure. They, however, did not have the time to alert the general public, Dr. Guishard said.

"Because this event developed over the Island rather than offshore, there was limited warning we could have given to the public in advance.

"It is worth noting that, even in locations where there is a high frequency of severe weather activity, for example in the Southern Great Plains of the United States, the detection of an actual tornado may only give up to 15 minutes worth of notice."

He continued: "One unusual aspect about [Tuesday's] weather is that no lightning was noted on any of our five independent lightning detection equipment, at the time of the development of the severe wind phenomenon. Usually thunderstorms, and therefore lightning, are a necessary condition for tornadoes."

The Weather Service also recorded 2.56 inches of rain on that day, which made it the wettest of the year so far; however there was no hail reported.

Dr. Guishard said: "The conclusion based on our analysis of the Doppler radar data, the survey of damage and the input from various members of the public, is that this feature was probably a shallow and short-lived tornado, not associated with any supercell thunderstorms, which would typically be the case for more definite tornado cases."

As part of a damage survey carried out yesterday, Dr. Guishard and his staff talked with residents and business personnel in the Southampton area from Horseshoe Bay to Heron Bay Plaza.

They discovered that strong winds were first reported at Southampton Rangers Cricket Club, where sporting equipment was blown over and a fence along the eastern boundary was bent at a 45 degree angle.

The winds progressed into the Scenic Heights area, where two houses had roof damage, other homes saw patio furnishings disturbed and gusts caused debris to fly.

According to Dr. Guishard, some properties in the immediate vicinity of the winds were unaffected as the strongest and most damaging gusts were "limited to a very narrow swath of land" in Southampton.

Trees and flags were damaged at the Bermuda Institute and a window was broken from flying debris.

Across the street at Heron Bay Plaza, a sliding door was blown inward and shopping carts caught by the wind damaged a car. Mopeds were also blown over and, in several instances, even carried by the wind.

"Eyewitness accounts indicate that the [length] of the strongest winds was on the order of 30 seconds; this was corroborated by security camera footage from the Market Place at Heron Bay," said Dr. Guishard. "Thankfully, there were no reports of injury."