Video: Tornado hits Barrowford

Others in the village reported grass falling from the sky after the shocking natural phenomenon which has been captured on video.

Bank Fold resident Abigail Salkeld caught the moment the tornado touched down in fields behind her home ... and watched in shock as a second, much smaller tornado appeared only around an hour later.

“I don’t think I would have noticed if they hadn’t just been hay-making in that field and I could see the grass start to move,” said Abigail.

And she explained how she watched in horror as the swirling tower of grass started to travel towards her home, across the field.

“I was ready to move,” said Abigail (23), who had been at her kitchen window, talking to her mother-in-law Tracy Clarke, when the drama struck.

“My first thought was for my cat Coco,” added Abigail, “and I was all ready to run out and make sure that she was OK and not in the way!”

Once she had spotted Coco safe inside the house, she grabbed her phone to film the phenomenon that lasted for about 10 minutes in total, slowly making its way away from the village into open countryside.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life before,” said Abigail, who went on to say, “It’s made me feel quite special , seeing it.”

Abigail, who runs her own business from home called My Chair Covers Lancashire, making bespoke chair covers for special events, including weddings, lives in Bank Fold with her partner Ryan Clarke.

She is also employed at both Burnley General and the Royal Blackburn Hospitals as a sonographer, producing ultrasonic images.

A tornado (sometimes called a “twister” or a cyclone) is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cloud.

The vast majority of tornadoes occur in the famous Tornado Alley region of the United States.

The worst to hit the United Kingdom in recent times struck in the suburbs of Birmingham in July 2005.

That “twister” carved a kilometre-long path through the city, leading to a total repair bill of more than £40m.

It caused extensive damage to two churches, a school and homes in its path.

Some 19 people were injured in that “strike” and an estimated 1,000 trees were uprooted, as well as cars being picked up and deposited elsewhere.