Residents today told of their terror as a tornado ripped through homes in Bognor, injuring five people.

The storm was today said to be "much worse" than that which caused devastation in Selsey in January 1998.

As a clean-up operation got under way, families were counting the cost of the freak whirlwind.

The twister cut a mile-and-a-half swathe of destruction through the streets.

It lifted one caravan into the air and dropped it on to another parked nearby, seriously injuring two women.

Rebecca Zugor, 37, was in her home on Linden Road with six-year-old son Stefan when the whirlwind struck.

She said: "It was like a sheet of water hitting the front of the house. I knew immediately that it was a tornado so I just tried to grab hold of Stefan to take him into the back bedroom and hide under the bed so I could protect him.

"It was extremely frightening at the time. The glass from the windows was being ripped out. Glass was absolutely everywhere and the noise was dreadful."

Stefan was taken to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, where he was treated for minor cuts from flying glass.

Fire brigade Divisional Officer David Harrop said 140 firefighters were involved in the emergency.

He said 100 properties were damaged and there had been five casualties. None is believed to be seriously hurt.

He said: "It started shortly after 5 o'clock. We must have had more than 100 calls in about the first hour with people calling in to report damage to their property.

"We are just happy that no one was seriously injured, that there was no loss of life. I think the residents of Bognor can be grateful for that."

He said two people had to be cut free when their caravan overturned at the Riverside Caravan Park.

One woman in her fifties suffered chest injuries and another in her sixties sustained shoulder and foot injuries.

Mark Tilley, 27, of Linden Road, said: "It hit us very suddenly. There was a noise and then a kind of silence before it came through and across our road.

"It was very scary seeing it smash its way through the houses here but we are so lucky.

"My car was smashed up and it's got broken windows and dented bodywork but our house is virtually untouched."

Edward Horton, 60, of Highland Avenue, said: "I was looking out of my window and I heard this huge bang and so I went outside.

"The tornado must have been 60 or 70ft high. It was sucking up the debris and throwing it all over the place.

"The strangest thing is, it just went straight over the houses, ripping up the trees in the cemetery. It was like it had mown a big corridor about 40ft wide."

The tornado was declared a major incident and was "much, much worse" than the tornado at nearby Selsey in January 1998, emergency services said.

Phil Morgan, an insurance consultant, visited Linden Road - one of the worst hit areas - and said the cost of the damage to properties was between £100,000 and £500,000.

There were several reports of gas leaks in damaged properties and the gable end of one property had collapsed.

Today, force eight or nine winds are expected to hit the South Coast from Cornwall to Kent and will be accompanied by heavy rain.

This could cause flooding, particularly in Sussex where water levels are still high after recent major flooding.

Bulldozers are working round the clock bolstering sea defences at the vulnerable areas of Selsey and Pevensey.