A ROGUE cloud broke away from a thunderstorm and by the time it finished rolling through Bournemouth, people were convinced they’d been hit by a tornado.

The “roll cloud” hit the town at around 7.15pm on Friday night and moved north before petering out as it moved inland.

Kevin Wood, from the Cumberland Hotel on the East Cliff, said: “We were in the middle of service of when staff noticed the outdoor poolside furniture flying past the windows.

“The umbrellas flew into the streets and the outdoor pool was full of two foot high waves. The whole thing lasted around two to three minutes.

“Sections of flat roof were torn off but there no major damage.

“It had powerful gale force winds. Afterwards it moved off inland.”

Tara Quinn, 41, said: “I was in Kinson and all the plant pots were flying around. My friend Lisa was in Moordown and said the leaves were being ripped from the trees. She said it was really strange because the wind came from underneath the trees.”

Resident Jenny Allport said it looked like a mini tornado was chasing her pony Urna around its field at Bearwood.

The cloud lost power as it moved north.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: “We had several inquiries from the public about this.

“It was a roll cloud. It’s a relatively rare, low-level, horizontal, tube shaped cloud, that’s completely detached from the base of a thunder cloud.

“It’s most frequently observed on the leading edge of thunderstorms. The cloud rotates about its horizontal axis. They are not tornadoes.”