Freak winds in Wales wreck cars, flip caravans; no injuries

LONDON (AP) - Authorities in Wales say hurricane-force winds have overturned caravans and toppled trees on to parked cars.

Nobody has been reported hurt in Thursday's freak burst of weather in Wales, which was focused on the seaside town of Aberystwyth.

Thomas Scarrott, the manager of a closed holiday campsite where more than a dozen mobile homes were flipped over, says the winds caused tornado-style destruction.

The Met Office and other weather forecasting authorities couldn't confirm the presence of a tornado, which are rare occurrences in Britain.

The Aberystwyth lifeboat station recorded gusts peaking at 94 mph (151 kph). Authorities further east in Wales and central England also reported exceptionally high bursts of wind.

A factory for JCB construction equipment in Staffordshire, England, was briefly closed when winds toppled a wall.