At around 4.00pm on May 19th, 1952, a tornado hit the village causing considerable damage to trees, crops and property although no serious injuries were reported. The tornado cut a two-mile swath through the village and was caused by an instability of air masses which started a thunderstorm and triggered the tornado. A resident of the village, Mr W.H. Hill of Lane End, gave an account of the happening to the press in which he described how the air, which was very calm at that point, was suddenly broken by a single lightning flash and crack of thunder. He left the field where he was working and went back to the farm. The following is his own account of what happened next -
"On reaching the farm a great roaring noise....like a waterfall, could now be heard. To the west....we could see all the trees in violent turmoil, branches wrenched off, flung upwards, and whirled around with other debris. As sheds and loose objects from the gardens began to sail over, we took shelter in the house...The air was quite still until the tornado struck....flinging a piece of corrugated iron through the window...the vortex roared like the updraft in a gigantic flue...The top of a large wooden building...burst upwards and every piece of loose wood was torn out. A cornstack was whipped into the air sheaf by sheaf as by a giant juggler, and held there before being flung aside. Heavy stone ridge tiles were plucked from the house, and the whole yard was full of flying stones and rubble as the disturbance passed over, leaving the air as quiet as before."
Even though the tornado damaged over 100 homes in and around Tibshelf, with many outbuildings demolished and dozens of trees uprooted, thankfully only one person was injured.
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