( This never happened in living memory in the UK now its becoming a regular event)
Tornados wreck UK homes
25.9.2007. 09:01:50
A string of tornados has hit part of central England, tearing the roofs off houses, and bringing down trees.
One witness said the scene in Nuneaton, int he West Midlands, was “absolute bedlam”, with roof tiles torn from a row of 10 to 15 homes.
“It only lasted a couple of minutes,” he told Sky News. “It’s devastating.”
“The house and bed shook and rumbled for about 10 seconds,” said Northampton
resident Andy Cooper.
“I jumped out of bed, looked out of the window and pressed my hands against it to feel the glass moving in and out.”
No injuries
The Met Office said it had had reports of at least four tornados in Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and the West Midlands. There were no reports of any injuries.
“When you have winds that are gusting up to 50 miles an hour or so, you can expect there to be quite a lot of damage,” said a spokeswoman.
“Branches and tiles being blown off, fence panels coming down and people might even find windows being blown in,” she added.
The extreme weather also hit Luton and Farnborough, further south.
Homes wrecked
Terrence Meaden of tornado research group, Torro, said: “I have spoken with a witness who saw the tornado funnel at ground level going through her garden.”
There are on average 33 tornados per year in Britain, Torro said. Most last only a few minutes and track across land for between two to five kilometres
But last December, one ripped roofs off homes and tore down walls in a residential area of northwest London, injuring six people and damaging around 100 houses.
Another in July 2005 injured 20 people, three of them seriously, and devastated a suburb of Birmingham, west central England, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and causing major structural damage.
SOURCE: Reuters/AAP/AFP
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