Top judge Norma Wade-Miller?s luxury home was struck by a tornado on Sunday afternoon.

The Acting Chief Justice?s cliff-top property ? just off South Shore Road, Southampton ? was damaged nearly 24 hours before Hurricane Florence finally raced past Bermuda.

The tornado struck and part of the roof fell through when the judge and her husband, Wesley Miller, were inside making last minute preparations for Florence.

Dr. Miller said everything happened quickly ? with the damage inflicted in a ?matter of seconds? as the tornado swept into the roof and across the house.

?It entered the left side of the house and tore off two internal doors,? recalled Dr. Miller, who had been taping up a glass window ahead of the hurricane.

?It got into the roof so a lot of slate and debris from this area came off.

?A lot of slate on the opposite side of the roof was thrown all the way over the top into the back area and into the pool.?

The tornado wreaked havoc between 2 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, as heavy rainfall pounded the area and the eye of the hurricane edged closer. Dr. Miller added: ?It came in with a whooshing sound and then there was a pop and the roof gave way. Debris fell just about everywhere.

?After that the rain settled and the sun came out. It was like nothing happened.?

Post-tornado winds also stripped away the bottom of a large porch roof covering the front entrance of the property, exposing a series of wooden beams and lights.

Dr. Miller, returning to the house yesterday afternoon for the first time since the weather chaos after spending a night at a hotel with his wife, said that he had not been able to assess the damage. He said he feared substantial water damage although they hoped to be back in some time today. The couple have lived at the property for about two years. They were not there for Fabian, which caused some damage but not to the roof.

?This has caused much more damage to the house than Fabian ? and it came before the actual hurricane,? added Dr. Miller, an ear, nose and throat specialist.

He said he was not angry about a freak tornado that had left chunks of rooftop littering his driveway. No other properties in the exposed South Road area appeared to have been hit. ?There?s no point in being angry about these things,? he said. ?They happen and there?s nothing one can do about it except assess the damage and fix it.

?Hopefully the next time there?s a tornado it stays away from Bermuda.?

And the Acting Chief Justice said: ?These things happen. I?ve learned to take life in my stride.?

The strength of the tornado was starkly illustrated by the way it stripped part of a tree 100 feet away from the Turtle Bay house ? and dropped it in front of the property.

The house was one of the first to be damaged by Florence-related weather.

News of the incident led to a US-based camera crew from the Weather Channel arriving at the scene on Sunday afternoon. Firefighters also attended and on safety grounds and advised the couple to spend the night elsewhere.