Washington hit by tornado after British burnt down the White House

The American War of Independence ended in 1783, but hostilities between Britain and the newly independent United States broke out again in the War of 1812. At the outbreak of this conflict, an American force invaded Canada and captured York — what is now Toronto — and the invading troops ransacked and looted much of the town before setting fire to the fort.
In retaliation, British forces invaded the US in 1814 and on a very hot day, August 24, stormed into Washington DC and burnt down all the government buildings, including the White House. The president, James Madison, and his government fled the capital in terror. The next day, with fires still burning, the skies turned dark and a fierce thunderstorm broke out with torrential rains that extinguished the fires. Then storm clouds began to whirl around and a terrible roar grew increasingly loud as a tornado appeared and tore into the city centre.
A British soldier, George Robert Gleig, described the scene. “Of the prodigious force of the wind it is impossible for you to form any conception. Roofs of houses were torn off by it and whisked into the air like sheets of paper, while the rain which accompanied it resembled the rushing of a mighty cataract rather than the dropping of a shower.”
“This [rainfall] lasted for nearly two hours without intermission, during which time many of the houses spared by us were blown down and thirty of our men, besides several of the inhabitants, buried beneath their ruins. Our column was as completely dispersed as if it had received a total defeat, some of the men flying for shelter behind walls and buildings and others falling flat upon the ground to prevent themselves from being carried away by the tempest.”
A British officer even reported seeing cannons lifted off the ground and hurled through the air.
Washington rarely suffers damaging tornados, which makes the violent storm in 1814 even more extraordinary. And as for the fire damage to Washington, Congress briefly considered abandoning the city and relocating the capital to Philadelphia, but the city was eventually rebuilt.