Four Scottish cyclists who are pedalling their way across America to raise money for charity had to shelter in the basement of a church after getting caught up in a tornado.

Adam Kent, 25, Matthew Tulloch, 21, Andrew Hall, 28, and Ben Brown, 21, started their 3300-mile cycle at the beginning of the month with the aim of raising £10,000 for Maggie’s Edinburgh.

Almost halfway through their gruelling trip, the men were caught up in the storms that hit the south of the country last week.

The group were cycling through Oklahoma and Kansas when the tornado hit nearby Missouri, bringing stormy weather into their paths. They passed flooded fields and had to divert their route to miss submerged roads.

But it was when they were spending the night in Galeno, Kansas that the group got their biggest fright. Ben wrote on the group’s blog, saying they had “the most terrifying experience”.

Sirens sounded through the town warning that the tornado was on its way and the group had to take shelter in a church basement and watch as the storm approached.

Ben said: “We have just spent the last few hours in a storm shelter. The basement of a church to be precise.

“The storm sirens wailed out. We had to sprint and get ourselves to the van and head to the storm shelter. It was terrifying; the sirens filled me with fear.

“Once inside we managed to get enough courage to head back up the stairs to try and see what was happening from the church door. You could see huge funnel clouds spiralling above and the wind howled and the rain smashed into the door. I've never seen rain like that.

“We were all pretty shell-shocked to be honest. We talked about how bad it would be to be downstairs not knowing if your house was being torn apart. I was panicking about the hire car disappearing too. You look to the locals and when you see them concerned you know it's bad. They were so nice to us and tried to make us feel better but it was falling on deaf ears.

“The TV in the shelter showed that twisters have killed people in El Reno, Oklahoma and in Galena where we are after a flying tree struck them. That easily could have been us.

“This truly is tornado alley all right. As I'm writing I can still hear the sound of thunder but thankfully it seems to be moving away north of us. We are not going to sleep well tonight.”

The tornado, with winds of 200mph, was one of the most destructive in US history. More than 900 people injured and the death toll is still rising.

Starting at Santa Monica in California, the cyclists are heading across the country to Brooklyn Bridge in New York. They have already raised £9500 for charity.

IN DETAIL

• Follow the journey and donate on the group’s blog