TWO South Lakeland farmers say they are ‘lucky to be alive’ after a 30ft tornado ripped a trail of devastation across their land.

Chris Gibson and stepson, Matthew Berry, have been left with damage which could total hundreds of thousands of pounds after the spiralling wind smashed its way through their Old Hutton farm on Saturday.

“We’ve had bad storms but I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Mr Gibson, 57, who was on site at Crosslands Farm at around 2.20pm when the tornado struck.

“I was in the cowshed and I heard a crashing noise and the roof suddenly lifted up and I could see daylight. Then the roof came smashing back down around me. I don’t know how I didn’t get seriously hurt.”

The tornado also lifted the roofs off several buildings, pulled the doors off two barns, brought down a concrete wall and snapped trees ‘like they were matchsticks’.

It also twisted a steel runner used to open another set of barn doors and pieces of slate were later found embedded in walls and the surrounding land.

“I was just really scared,” said Mr Berry, 29, who saw the spiralling wind as it reached the farm.

“I’d just been moving some sheep and suddenly everything went silent for a few seconds. Then all of a sudden I heard a really loud noise and I turned and saw the tornado crashing into the side of a silage building.

“I could see it lifting things up into the air and smashing anything in its way. Luckily I was about 150 metres away, or I don’t know if I’d be alive.”

He said the twister was around 30ft wide and travelled 300 yards in less than 15 seconds.

It battered its way through the farmyard and travelled across a field, which on most days is full of sheep, before lifting the tops off several trees.

It then made its way towards the Armistead Wind Farm where it hit turbines with speeds in excess of 55 miles-an-hour, causing them to cut out for safety reasons.

Landowner Michael Atkinson, who lives on the farm with his wife, Deborah, and leases the land to Mr Gibson and Mr Berry, said he ‘could not believe his eyes’ when he saw the scene of devastation.

“Matthew phoned me and his voice was shaking and as soon as he said ‘tornado’ I told myself to expect the worst. But I still wasn’t prepared. I just can’t believe the damage it’s done.”

Both Mr Berry and Mr Atkinson said they believe the cost of the damage will stretch to six figures.

However, nobody was hurt during the incident, although a vet has told the farmers that some of the cattle could ‘abort’ because of the stress.

“The damage was bad but it’s lucky it was here and not in the middle of Kendal,” continued Mr Berry.

“If it had gone down the centre of Kendal it would have been carnage. People would have died.

“It just moved so fast that if anyone had been in the way they wouldn’t have been able to move.”

The incident came exactly year after a local family reported seeing a vortex cloud forming over Longsleddale.