LIKE the classic scene from The Wizard of Oz, a man from Bude nearly got taken away by a ‘tornado’ on Wednesday morning, December 11.

Mr William Morris had been walking back from dropping his daughter off at nursery and was between Crooklets Beach and Sainsbury’s, right in the open, when he was caught up by the weather system.

He said: “I was walking back from dropping my daughter off when I got caught up in this mini tornado. It was strong enough to blow the lid off the buggy — luckily I had already dropped my daughter off and she wasn’t in it!”

Mr Morris said he thought the suspected tornado had originated off shore, moving its way on to land buffeting him in the process: “It looked to be just offshore and I got caught in the micro burst as it then hit land.

“I don’t know if it was a tornado or a water spout, it’s certainly not something I have seen before.”

Do any of our readers know whether this is a water spout, a tornado or something else?