Dramatic footage shows the spire of a Somerset being blown off during Storm Eunice.
The spire of St Thomas’ Church in Wells crashed to the ground after it was brought down by heavy winds.
Footage showed the moment the spire wobbled and then toppled from the church, which was constructed in 1857.
Nobody was hurt, the church’s vicar, the Rev Claire Towns, told local newspaper the Somerset County Gazette.
“The way it fell, it couldn’t have fallen in a better way in the sense that it fell over and landed in the park in the churchyard without touching anything and nobody was hurt, and that’s a really good thing,” she told the paper.
“At this moment it is impossible to say how services will be affected. We are waiting for a structural engineer to come and give us a verdict.
“We have a major restoration project on our hands but there were no damages before. It came as a shock and a surprise to all of us.”
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She said she thought the Grade II listed church was not going to suffer any further damage.
“At the moment we are in emergency mode and then we will do the restoration when we know more. In terms of cost, it could be relatively small, but the effort will be phenomenal because of the height,” she said.
“I mean, it’s happened, and we just have to deal with it. But we are not at the point of making decisions about the future at the moment. We are a family, we rally around, and we will get there.”
Storm Eunice has brought record-breaking gusts of wind to the UK as millions of people were urged to stay at home for the day.
Thousands of homes have been left without power while flights, trains and ferry services have been suspended and roads, schools and businesses have shut.