Whirlwind strikes the south of Malta

Strong winds wreaked havoc in the south of Malta yesterday morning, snapping trees like matchsticks, toppling walls and wrenching electricity poles, although no one was injured.

"It was really lucky that no one was hurt," Zejtun mayor Joe Attard said. "It is terrible to see the damage, but when you think how much worse it could have been...."

Mr Attard immediately realised that one sudden gust of wind at around 9.15 a.m. was out of the ordinary.

"It sounded like an airplane. It was just a matter of seconds, but we all realised that there must have been some damage," he said.

Witnesses described a funnel cloud sweeping across the south of the island, leaving devastation in its wake.

The most visible damage was 10 trees along 25th November Avenue, Zejtun, some of which are over 40 years old.

"They were not uprooted, which is what you would expect, but literally snapped off. One of the trees is around 30 cm in diameter and it was broken off at road level. It is heartbreaking to see these old trees ruined."

One driver managed to swerve out of the way of a branch just in time, when he saw it snap off and get swept into the middle of the road in front of him, Mr Attard said.

Mr Attard listed other damaged areas: the aluminium internal door of Herald Printing Press was wrenched out of shape, smashing the glass and trapping employees inside until the door could be forced open. Electricity poles were toppled. A high wall under construction on the roof of Alex Mercieca Bathrooms collapsed, and the wall of Montebello Auto Dealer also fell.

The Civil Protection Department said that the funnel cloud also damaged trees on the Ghaxaq bypass, near the swings in Marsascala and near Ghar Dalam in Birzebbuga. One tree fell onto a car.

Met Office forecaster Brian Micallef said that yesterday's weather was the result of low pressure over Tunisia, which worked its way towards the Ionian Sea, bringing thunderstorms.

The funnel cloud, a whirlwind, was the result of the combination of the cold front and winds which reached Force 7 - a moderate gale on the Beaufort Scale.

The mean wind speed at Luqa only reached 17 knots, with gusts up to 30 knots, but in Selmun, which is far more exposed to the easterly wind, the automatic weather station registered gusts of 40 knots.

By yesterday evening, the wind had subsided to a Force 6, and veered round to the north west. Today, the wind should subside to Force 4-5.