A YOUNG Teignmouth man working in America escaped injury when a series of tornadoes roared through Texas mid-week.

Jonathan Rice (above right), 24, managed to reach the safety of an underground shelter at a conference hall in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He told his father, Dave Rice, in Teignmouth: 'It was quite frightening, but exciting at the same time.

'As soon as the tornado alert sounded, everybody was evacuated into the shelter, and nobody was hurt. But there was devastation on the ground when we came out, with buildings and lorries wrecked.

'We were very lucky.'