A woman lifted into the air by a tornado while inside her caravan said today: "I can't believe I am still alive."

As Sussex residents remained on red alert for another storm battering, Dorothy Allwright was back at home nursing cracked ribs and a sprained shoulder.

Mrs Allwright, 61, and her best friend, Sue Barr, from Bognor, were watching television when the whirlwind struck Riverside Caravan Park in Shripney Road, Bognor.

Her caravan was ripped from its base, lifted into the air and smashed into the caravan next door.

Mrs Allwright said: "There was this terrific noise. The wind lifted the caravan from the ground and threw us into the air. I was flung here and there. "Everything was crashing around us. We were screaming, then we heard people calling and punching the wall.

"My friend was absolutely distraught because she couldn't breathe. It took the fire brigade more than an hour to get us out."

Mrs Barr is being treated at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, for five broken ribs and a broken wrist.

Mrs Allwright, of Orient Road, Lancing, had her two whippets in the caravan and one, Penny is being treated by vets for a back injury. She said the other, Misty, was severely traumatised.

Mrs Allwright said: "I feel absolutely battered and bruised. The park manger said he couldn't understand how we weren't killed."